Mario and Friends - Middle School
by Anonymous Girl Gamer
Summary: Middle school brings a lot of challenges, especially for Mario and the gang! First instalment in the 'Mario and Friends' series.
1. The Day Starts Like This

**Hi I'm back with the official first chapter! This is a way more detailed introduction to the some of the more important characters. It's a little slow paced at the moment, but that'll change. The next chapter is when it all really starts, I promise! Hopefully you like it, and you don't think it's too slow a start.**

 **I want to thank JustTheClassicalGirl for following my fanfic.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything belonging to Nintendo.**

* * *

"Mario. Mario! Wake up."

"Huh..." mumbled Mario, trying to focus on the person shaking him. Luigi. Of course.

"Ah, you're awake."

"Why are you waking me up so early, it's six o'clock..."

"We can't be late today Mario, it's the first day of middle school!"

"So what..."

"Just get up!"

"Right..."

Mario reluctantly left his warm bed and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He didn't share Luigi's enthusiasm for school. His twin brother was a bit of a nerd! He was excited to make new friends, however, and maybe he'd even find a girlfriend! His social life would improve drastically, no doubt about that.

As he pulled on his jeans he realised how loose they were around the waist. " _Whoa, I really did lose weight over the summer!_ " thought Mario. " _That'll help me get the girls._ "

After getting fully dressed, he went downstairs to eat his breakfast.

"Good morning Mario!" greeted his parents. "Why are you down so early?"

Mario glared at Luigi. " _He_ woke me up. I mean, it's only quarter past six! What time does school start anyway, eight o'clock?"

"Actually, it starts at nine. The bus comes at half eight."

"Wait wait wait, hold on a second. You woke me up at _six_ to get the bus at _half eight_?"

"Lay off on the aggression Mario!" said his Mamma sharply. "Your brother was only trying to help."

"Sorry Mamma. Sorry Luigi," he mumbled. He looked over at Luigi and saw he had tears in his eyes. " _What a wimp,_ _"_ he thought. He wasn't usually this mean with Luigi: truth was, he was upset about having to go back to school. At least his friend Yoshi, whom himself and Luigi were friends with in elementary school, would be there. So would his cousin Wario, his best friend after Luigi and Yoshi.

He munched his cereal in silence and drank his juice. He had a lot of time to spare, so he played a bit of Nintendo until Luigi called him.

"Mario! The bus is here!"

Mario ran downstairs and grabbed his schoolbag. His Mamma squeezed himself and Luigi tightly into a hug. "Ah, my boys are growing up!" she said in her Italian accent. "Hope you have a good day!"

"Thanks Mamma, bye!" replied the brothers in unison, before running off to the bus. Mario forced a smile as he greeted Yoshi, but deep down he wasn't looking forward to middle school. It sounded like more hard work then he could handle!

* * *

Luigi was up bright and early for school. Okay, it was going to be a challenge, but hopefully he'd be able to overcome them.

He opened his wardrobe and tried to decide what to wear. He rummaged through his green t-shirts and finally pulled out one that was ironed. He took out a random pair of jeans and runners. He hoped he didn't look too casual. It was his first day, after all.

At last, he put on his glasses. He groaned inwardly as he peered into the mirror. He looked like such a nerd, especially with the braces on his teeth. True, he was smart and wanted to get good grades, but that didn't mean he wanted to look like a clever cloggs! Maybe he should consider getting contacts, but he was too afraid...

"I'd better wake Mario," he muttered as he climbed the ladder leading to the top bunk. It was so unfair that Mario always got to sleep at the top, just because he was the eldest twin.

"Mario. Mario! Wake up."

After a lot of protesting, Mario got up. Luigi ran downstairs to help his family make the breakfast. As he squeezed the juice into the cups, fears began to emerge. What if he didn't make any new friends? What if Mario and Wario and Yoshi ditched him? It wasn't like he was that interesting. He was even more afraid when Mario shouted at him for waking him up early. Yep, it looked as if his beloved brother wouldn't want him tagging along anymore...

Eventually his mother gave them both a huge hug before they entered the bus. He could only hope for the best...

* * *

Peach was up early for the big day. She was rather excited, if she was honest with herself. It was going to be an interesting experience, that was for sure.

She wanted to make a good impression on the teachers, so she opted to wear a more or less formal outfit. She pulled out a pair of grey jeans and a pale pink blazer, her favourite colour of all time. Should she wear any makeup? Nah, no need.

After breakfast, her father had a talk with her.

"Peach, there are a few important things I'd like to speak about."

"Yes Papa."

"There are rules I want you to follow. I don't want our family tainted by any bad behaviour, do you understand?"

"Yes Papa."

"No drinking."

"No Papa."

"No smoking."

"No Papa."

"No drugs."

"No Papa."

"No skipping classes."

"No Papa."

"Obey the code of conduct and be good at all times."

"No Papa."

"Sorry?"

"I mean yes, Papa."

"And no boyfriends. Unless they're rich."

"No Papa."

Any other teen might not have taken that last comment very seriously, but Peach knew better. The Toadstool family were the richest in town after her cousin Daisy Rose's family. An ancestor of theirs had founded Toadstool Middle School and Toadstool High. Her grand uncle, Mr Toadsworth, was the principal of both schools. Her family's reputation might be damaged if she disobeyed her snobby parents' rules. Even the one regarding boyfriends.

She took a deep breath before going on the bus. With Daisy in her year and her brains, surely she'd be fine?

* * *

Daisy was kind of looking forward to the day. She wasn't the smartest, but she liked to be in the company of others. It helped that Peach, her neighbour, cousin and best friend, was going to be with her.

She put on a yellow floral dress, only noticing how unflattering it was when it was too late. She didn't bother brushing her long hair, similar to Peach's in style. It was only school, after all. Her mother's disapproval was obvious.

"Daisy, you really should take more pride in your appearance," she scolded, combing her daughter's hair.

"Ow! Mommy!"

"Ugh, so many knots..."

Daisy and her little sister Azalea didn't get along that well with their mother. The two tomboys were both daddy's girls. However, they were tomboyish in different ways. Azalea was the sportier of the two, while Daisy simply didn't care what she looked like.

Daisy hoped the year would go well for her. How bad could it be?

* * *

"Wario, stop picking your nose!" said his mother at the table. "There are people eating."

"Sorry Mamma," he muttered. Shortly afterwards, he farted really loudly, which was followed by a stench of rotten eggs.

"Wario!" shouted Papa. "That is disgusting! Mamma mia! You'll make no friends!"

"I already have friends," sulked Wario. "Mario and Luigi."

"Yeah, well, they won't want to hang out with someone who stinks all the time, will they?"

"They don't mind, actually, they think it's hilarious when I fart!"

"Not when they get more mature, they won't! And when was the last time you showered? You stink of garlic!"

"Four weeks ago?"

"Mamma mia! _Four weeks_?"

"Oh, I think the bus should be here by now. Bye Mamma. Bye Papa. Wish me luck for today."

In reality, Wario just wanted to get away from his parents. All they did was nag, nag, nag. He was getting really tired of it. School was his only refuge from his annoying family. Kind of sad, really. At least this year, for the first time ever, he'd be with his cousins at school.

* * *

"Get up Waluigi! Don't be so stubborn!"

Waluigi's parents were trying to wake their lazy son. " _Let them at it,_ " he thought, intentionally keeping his eyes closed.

"Waluigi? I know you're awake! What is wrong with you? Why are you so sulky all the time?"

It was true. Waluigi had a permanent scowl on his thin face, and was almost never happy. There was always something to complain about. It never occurred to him that it was his sour personality that drew bad luck to him.

He wasn't going to get up until the very last minute. Middle school was going to suck, he just knew it. Therefore, he was going to let his parents pester him all they liked. He couldn't care less.

* * *

Bowser woke up to the sound of his heavy metal alarm. He grabbed his phone and angrily turned it off. Stupid alarm. Stupid middle school. Stupid everything.

He got up and put on a black top, ripped jeans and spiked bracelets. _No one_ was going to mess with him, not if they knew what was good for them. The handsome, lightly tanned redhead was a well built boy who looked older than his years, thanks to his height and the boxing he did after school. He combed his longish hair, which matched his tough appearance.

He went into the kitchen and saw his father, Kamek, reading a newspaper. Without saying anything he grabbed an apple and munched it loudly. After a while he noticed Kamek staring at him.

"What?"

"No, it's nothing... I was just thinking... um..." Kamek had tears in his eyes. "Your mother... She would have been so proud, you starting middle school an' all."

Bowser shifted uncomfortably. He himself was on the verge of tears after that rare moment of affection and the memory of his deceased mother, but he never, ever cried in front of people. He turned away, dumping his apple and fiddling with his fingers.

With that, he grabbed his red school bag and with a permanent marker he drew a skull on it. That would really make him look tough. He strolled out the door, not caring about whether he was late or not.

* * *

 **Well, that's that finished! I was going to describe their first day of school in this chapter as well, but I though it'd be too long then. By the way, Azalea is a character from the Mario Golf series. She looks a lot like Daisy, and I think they were originally going to be sisters, I'm not sure. That's why they're sisters in this fic, in case you were wondering! Also... I'm not saying that Bowser's not a bully in this story, because that would be a bit of an understatement. He's going to be more of a weird and random bully who tries to prove that he's tough. Also, you might notice that "nerd" is used as an insult throughout this fic. Like I said already, this doesn't represent what I think. Depending on the context, nerd can be a bad or good thing.  
** **Please review!**


	2. First Day

**Hi! This is the chapter where I'll be describing what the school is like. I'm not from America, I may have got a few things wrong, but I genuinely tried my best, so hopefully it's not too bad. I've answered signed reviews personally, here I'll answer the anonymous reviews:  
** **Pincest is wron : I'm happy you like it!  
Vivian: Sorry if I offended you. You're right that Birdo is actually a trans woman, I made him a gay man purely for the plot to work. He won't be in this middle school fic, he'll be in the next one as a new student. Sorry again if I upset you.**

 **Disclaimer: Nintendo owns everything.**

* * *

Mario, Luigi, Toad and Yoshi got out of the bus together. Mario was relieved to see that his cousin was getting along with Yoshi, whom he'd never met before.

"What time is it Luigi?" he asked. His brother always had a watch with him.

"Ten to nine."

"Nice. So we've ten minutes to do what we want."

"My bag is so heavy," complained Yoshi as they approached the school gate.

"Really? I don't think it's that bad," said Wario.

"That's because you're strong," laughed Luigi. "At least we'll be getting our lockers today."

When they were inside the building, Mario was stunned. The place was packed with people! The foursome carried on talking as they walked in the middle of the corridor.

"Boys, walk on the right side of the corridor, please!" said a voice behind them. Mario turned and saw Mr Toadsworth, the principal. Without comment the group moved to the right. Not even Mario dared to defy him!

The bell rang, and the seventh graders were unsure of where to go. Shortly afterwards, a message was called out on the intercom. "Could all seventh graders come to the assembly hall now please."

They went in silence to the hall, as no one wanted to get into trouble for talking.

"Good morning, seventh graders. As you already know, this is your first day in Toadstool Middle School, and of course, I am your principal, Mr Toadsworth. I will be speaking about everything you will need to know for this year and what I expect of you. For a start, we try to make sure everyone is happy here. To achieve this, however, _you_ must also cooperate."

"What the heck is he on about?" whispered Mario to Yoshi, who was right behind him, assuming no one could hear him.

"I know some people are confused," said the principal, looking directly at Mario. "Let me explain further. In this school, we have zero tolerance regarding bullying. I hope you all understand now! Anyone who bullies a peer, whether it be physical, verbal or cyber, will be dealt with adequately. No one will go unpunished. No one. Understood?"

"Yes Sir," chorused the students.

"From there, I move on to dress code." The principal glared at a tall brunette. "No revealing or inappropriate clothes are allowed. That includes miniskirts, shorts that go above the knee, backless t-shirts, _crop tops_ , and _heels_. Understood, Miss..."

The girl stared at him in confusion.

"Your name?"

"Pauline."

"Understood, Miss Pauline?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever," she replied cheekily, rolling her eyes.

"Excuse me? Did you just roll your eyes at me? And you call me Sir, understood, Miss Pauline?"

"Yes Sir," she muttered submissively.

"Now, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, only a moderate amount of makeup is permitted. Do you understand, Miss Pauline and Master... what is your name?" he asked, looking at a boy wearing Gothic makeup.

"Uh... Boo..."

"Master Boo. And look at me when I'm speaking to you."

"Um... yes Sir," he mumbled, barely raising his head. " _Poor guy,_ " thought Mario. " _He looks so embarrassed._ "

"Now for the general school rules. In order to create an orderly environment, everyone must walk on the right. The use of phones and electronic devices are discouraged at recess and lunch breaks."

"Are we still allowed to use them if we want to?" piped up a rather short girl.

"Try not to. The reason I have mentioned this is to encourage people to socialise more. Oh, and of course they are to be turned off in class at all times. Gum is banned. This is just a reminder of the main rules, the rest are in the code of conduct booklet I have given to you before the year started. I presume you have read it already, all of you!" A number of people looked at each other, shaking their heads discreetly. "That said, I'll be giving you your timetables, depending on your classes, a little map to help you find your way around, and your locker numbers." The principal proceeded to do so. "Finally, we expect all of you to work hard and do your best, but take breaks too. Be respectful to the teachers and your peers, and if you ever need help, I'm at my office, which is marked on your map. Enjoy your time at Toadstool Middle School!"

"Yes Sir."

Everyone looked at their timetables and maps and headed towards their homeroom. There they met their first teacher.

"Hello everyone. My name is Petey Piranha. Please call me Mr Piranha. Well, you know the rules. No phones, good behaviour, no inappropriate clothing, and moderate amount of makeup."

"Aww," groaned Mario. "I just bought a miniskirt and heels to wear tomorrow!"

The entire class laughed at his joke. " _An oldie but a goodie,_ " he thought.

"Calm down, class! How about we introduce ourselves? You! You're starting!" He pointed at Mario.

"Okey dokey." He walked up to the top of the class. "My name's Mario. My last name's also Mario. Please, don't mock me!" His comment was followed by roars of laughter, even though he'd thought it was quite a weak joke. "Hey, what did I just say? Hee hee! Anyway, as I was about to say before you all laughed at me, I have a cousin, he's over there. His name's Wario. I also have a twin brother, called Luigi. See the one with the glasses? That's him." Luigi squirmed with embarrassment as all eyes turned to look at him. "I love playing Nintendo and doing sports, both in real life and in video games. I'm not fat because I'm lazy, I just love my food! Now for the interesting stuff about me. I'm Italian, as you can probably already tell. Look, I'm not going to say anymore, there's too many interesting things to say!"

Mario received a round of applause and was very pleased with himself. He'd managed to make the whole class laugh: what more could he ask for?

Next came Luigi, who pretty much flunked his first impression on the others. Mario cringed as his red faced brother spoke awkwardly.

"Um... hey. I'm Luigi Mario. I like Nintendo, sports and books. I'm Mario's brother. Oh wait, you know that already... yeah. That's all."

A pretty blonde girl spoke next. "Hello everyone! I'm Peach Toadstool. My grand uncle is Mr Toadsworth, and... I don't want to brag, but an ancestor of mine founded this school." Most people gasped in awe, but one student simply scowled and muttered, "I guess we all know who's going to be the teacher's pet around here."

Peach blushed uncomfortably. "Oh no, it's not like that. The principal has warned me that he's not going to treat anyone differently."

"Yeah, sure..." he drawled.

"That's enough. What's your name?" asked Mr Piranha.

"Waluigi."

"Never a good sign when I know a student's name too soon. Peach, continue."

"Okay. Um... I like video games, gardening, baking and shopping. I'm a bit of a girly girl! I also have family here." Daisy smiled. "Everyone, this is my cousin Daisy. We've been best friends for as long as I can remember."

The class continued with more introductions. Just as the last student, Koopa Troopa, had finished his speech, the bell rang.

The students frantically searched through their timetables and maps as they went to their next classes. Mario stuck with his friends, who happened to be in the same maths class as him, and eventually they got there, five minutes late.

"Ooh, I hope we don't get into trouble," fretted Luigi.

"Don't worry. She sounds friendly enough," reassured Yoshi.

"But you've never met her."

"Chill, Luigi. Her name's Miss Kersti. _Kersti._ How bad can someone with the surname Kersti be? I bet she's a dumb blonde."

"You're weird. Anyway, the term "dumb blonde" is just a stereotype."

As they knocked and walked into the classroom, they realised that Yoshi, unfortunately for them, was wrong. A short, grey haired teacher glared at the four boys with a frown on her face. "Excuse me! Why are you late for my class?"

"But it's our first day!" said Wario unwisely.

"How dare you give me cheek like that! I was going to let everyone sit next to whoever they wanted, but now I won't! Class, put away your things and stand up."

Mario felt bad for his peers as they muttered and groaned. The teacher was being unreasonable! They were new here, they were bound to make mistakes! The maps weren't as helpful as Mr Toadsworth made them out to be.

He was put next to a couple of boys. He didn't know what their names were, and he didn't care either. It was so unfair...

* * *

Meanwhile, Luigi was put in between the "jerk", Waluigi, and the girl in the yellow dress. What was her name again? Ah yes, Daisy, that was it!

He looked across at Daisy, who smiled at him. Luigi, glad to be next to one nice person at least, smiled back. He then glanced at Waluigi. He didn't really like him, but maybe he just needed a friend, maybe he just had horrible social skills. He gave him a small smile, but Waluigi's already present scowl deepened.

"What do you want, freak?"

" _Whoa,_ " thought Luigi. " _What's his problem?_ " He decided that he would leave him be in future. Miss Kersti looked at and spoke to Waluigi.

"Waluigi, can you please stop distracting the others?"

"Wah! He was talking to me first!"

"Is this true? You've been in enough trouble already! What's your name?"

"Uh, Luigi, but..."

"Enough is enough. Next time I'll give you a detention. Do you hear me? Anyway, as I was saying..."

Were talking and arriving late really worthy of a detention? Anyway, he wasn't even speaking! Waluigi was such a... Luigi stopped there, not wanting to swear, even if no one could hear him. Daisy rolled her eyes and smiled pityingly, which made him feel a little better.

Eventually, maths was over, and the next class was geography with Cranky Kong, or Mr Kong. Wait, wasn't that Donkey's surname? Maybe they were related. Like his name, he was very cranky, but at least he wasn't unjust like Miss Kersti!

Finally it was recess, and he got a chance to find and speak to his friends.

"Hey, wasn't Miss Kersti so mean!"

"I know!"

"I wasn't even talking! I just smiled at Waluigi and he freaked out!"

"Don't bother trying to be nice to him, he's just a jerk."

The next three classes were history, science and P.E. Luigi particularly liked Professor E Gadd, the science teacher. He was weird, but funny. Of course they didn't do much in P.E. other than speak about the subject and what they had to bring in for the next class.

* * *

It was lunchtime. Most of the students were at the canteen, with their buddies.

However, Toad was unsure of where to go. He knew no one, and he desperately wanted to cry, like he had done that morning at home. First day, and already he couldn't handle it! What was going to happen next week, next month, next week? Was it going to get worse and worse?

He looked around and saw his sister Toadette, hanging out with Pauline and another girl. He thought her name was Minnie, or Mimi, something like that. He didn't exactly want to hang out with a group of girls, not to mention that Mimi (or was it Minnie?) seemed a little bratty. He wasn't fooled for one second by her sweet act.

He looked over at four boys at at table at the back. He recognised them as the guys who had been late to Miss Kersti's class. She was so sad. She had been way too harsh with them, and why should the rest of the class have to be punished?

He walked over to them, hoping they'd be nice. "Hey guys, mind if I sit here?"

"Sure," said the guy in the green t-shirt.

"Do you know our names?" smiled the guy in red.

"You're Mario. You're... Wario?" Wario nodded. "And you're Yoshi. And... what's your name again?"

"Luigi."

"Yep."

Suddenly, the atmosphere became awkward. "What do we talk about now?"

"Oh yeah, I meant to ask you," said Mario, "are you and Toadette related? You look alike."

"She's my sister."

"Nice! So you're twins like me and Luigi!"

"Uh... no."

"Huh?"

"Believe me, I get asked that all the time. Toadette's actually younger than me by eleven months."

"Oh, I get it!"

"This tastes crappy," commented Luigi, referring to the meal.

"Yeah, it does actually," said Toad. "I might just bring in my own lunch next time."

"Yeah same."

"Agreed."

The five boys started discussing the teachers they had so far (they had a mutual hate for Miss Kersti), their opinions on their peers, and Toadette.

"I'm not too sure about Toadette's new friends," worried Toad. "They don't look like very nice people."

"True. But Pauline sure is pretty!" said Mario.

"Do you like her?"

"Not really, I'm just saying."

"I just hope she's alright..."

* * *

"Excuse me, that's, like, our seat," said Mimi intimidatingly.

Daisy and Peach looked up. They saw an adorable girl with her blonde hair in ponytails, Pauline, and a short girl with two braids. Peach remembered that her name was Toadette, and Daisy recognised Pauline as the girl who'd gotten into trouble.

"Did you hear me?" She glared at Daisy now. "Get your fat butt off my seat now."

Daisy stood up. "And if we don't?"

Mimi sneered. "If you don't, I'll make your life here really, really bad."

"Pfff. Heh heh. Bad? That the best you can think of? What's the worst you could do anyway?"

"Hmmm, I don't know. Wanna find out?"

Daisy growled with anger, her eyebrows tightening. Peach knew that look too well, and grabbed her arm. "Come on, Daisy. Don't listen to those losers." They walked off to another table.

"Hey, what d'you do that for?"

"You would have punched her and gotten into trouble."

"Pfff."

Peach changed the subject. Thankfully, nothing major happened for the rest of the day.

* * *

 **I hope the end of that wasn't too sudden. I'm probably jumping from one character to another too many times, I honestly don't know how to stop doing that without changing the plot entirely, honestly I don't.  
Well, I'm sure it's obvious at this stage that I hate Kersti from _Sticker Star_! Also, I said that Mr Toadsworth wasn't going to be a very good principal. I know he seems like your average middle school principal at the moment, but his incompetence will be shown later. Also, the list of characters from the first chapter, that's the maths class. It doesn't really matter, just thought I'd mention it!:-)  
Please review!**


	3. Good and Bad

**Hi, this is A.G.G back with the fourth chapter! They get shorter from now on, that might be good for some readers and bad for others. This one takes place about a month later. Hope you don't mind the time gap! Also, I may have said this already, but this fic won't have the stereotypical ships. They won't be completely random, but they won't be, for example, Mario X Peach, either, if you get what I'm saying. You'll understand by the end of this chapter. Hopefully that's not a problem! Anyway, I might make them a couple later on in the series, so don't worry!**

 **I want to thank MarioTale1995 for following.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything belonging to Nintendo.**

* * *

One month on, the students had more or less settled in at Toadstool Middle School. They didn't get lost anymore, and knew a lot of the other peoples's names. New friendships and rivalries began to form, and things really started to happen in that second month.

The first week of October was both good and bad for Luigi. Miss Kersti announced that there would be a maths test the following Wednesday, and this would be the first test of the year.

"And of course she only gives us two days to study for it," complained Mario after class. However, Luigi was good at the subject. He was confident that he knew his work, and didn't even think he needed to study. He chuckled to himself as he spotted his brother swotting away for it. " _Poor Mario!_ " he thought.

Wednesday came, and Luigi found himself shaking a little right before the test. What if he messed up? Thankfully, he was able to answer every question and even smiled as he handed up the paper.

The next day the tests were handed back, and he got a hundred percent!

"I'll read out all of the results."

Luigi thanked his stars that he'd gotten a good grade. He felt bad for the person who did the worst.

"With a hundred percent each, Luigi and Waluigi are top of the class. Well done!"

He could hear a few people muttering "nerds" and "geeks". He tried not to let it get to him, though his spirits were lifted when Mario started clapping, followed by Wario, Yoshi, Toad, Daisy and then, the rest of the class. Well, everyone except for Waluigi, who looked furious.

"Next on the list is Peach, who got ninety seven percent, and Goombella, with ninety percent."

Only Peach and Goombella's closest friends (and Luigi, since he had a crush on the former) clapped this time.

"Now for the B students: there's Pauline with eighty five (Luigi was shocked, as she seemed like a girl who didn't care about school), Ashley with eighty and Toad with seventy. There are quite a lot of people who got C's, they are Wario with sixty eight percent, Tatanga with sixty seven, Starlow with sixty four, Toadette and Boo with sixty, Koopa Troopa with fifty three and Goomba with fifty. I am now going to call out who got D's..."

"Excuse me Miss!" Mario called out.

"Yes?"

"I fail?"

"Not technically, but it is still not good enough for my standards! It simply means that you've barely passed. So, Mario, you got _fifty four_ percent. Maybe, if you'd tried harder in class, you would have gotten a C. So, Mario was followed by Mimi with fifty two percent, Daisy with fifty, Yoshi with forty six and Bowser with forty."

Luigi was angry with Miss Kersti. " _She has a real downer on Mario, for some reason,_ " he thought. " _She didn't get mad at Bowser, even though he nearly failed._ "

"Now for the people who failed. Dry Bones got thirty five percent, and Donkey Kong got twelve. Bowser, take that smirk off your face! It's not funny! It's a disgrace! I want more A's and B's next time, understood?"

Recess came after math and Luigi went to his locker. He didn't know where his friends had went, so he was alone. He was getting out his English books, when suddenly...

"Boo!" shouted a person, slapping her hands on his back.

"Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!" yelled Luigi in fright, dropping his books.

"Oh sorry! Did I scare you? Here, let me help!" Luigi and Daisy bent down to pick up the books.

"Sorry, I do that sometimes! It's just for fun. I didn't think you'd be that frightened!"

"It's okay." Luigi knew she was only joking, but he couldn't help wishing he wasn't such a clumsy scaredy cat.

"So, what do you wanna talk about?"

Random much? They didn't know each other very well, not to mention that he felt a little awkward, as he wasn't a great conversation starter. "I don't know. Whatever you want."

"Okay. Hey, wasn't that so unfair when Miss Kersti gave out to Mario? Like, I did worse and she didn't say anything!"

"Yeah, and he did try! He was studying like mad for that test!"

"Poor Mario... OMG, your brother is so cute! He's so hilarious, too! Remember when..."

Luigi stopped listening for a few moments. It wasn't that he liked Daisy _that_ way, but everyone preferred Mario over himself, even Yoshi and Wario and maybe Toad too. He didn't like to admit it, but he was a little jealous of his brother's popularity.

"... I just couldn't stop laughing! Oh I hope I'm not boring you too much!"

"No, no!"

Luigi saw his friends at the end of the corridor. He hoped they hadn't seen him speaking to a girl... aw, what the heck, it didn't matter! He wanted to make new friends, and now he had!

"I'd better go and join the others. They'll think I've ditched them! Ciao, Daisy."

"Bye Luigi!"

He strolled over to his buddies, who were smirking.

"What?"

"Daisy and Luigi, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G," they chanted in unison.

Luigi went bright red. "Shut up, she'll hear you! Um... how long were you watching, anyway?"

"Only a few secs. You were having a nice, long chat with your Daisy, weren't you Luigi. You were enjoying yourself so much, you even forgot about us! Isn't that right, guys?" finished Mario.

"Yep."

"Yeah."

"Actually, bro, Daisy just told me about how much she likes _you_." Luigi wasn't sure if he should have told, but it wasn't like she'd said it was a secret!

"Oh. Right. I guess when I'm just so irresistible, with my sexy face and body, what can I expect?" Mario's comment was followed by roars of laughter. "Who _do_ you like, anyway, Luigi?"

"Uh, no one!" replied Luigi, his blush deepening.

"Aw look, you're all red. Is it Goombella?"

Luigi pulled a face.

"Mimi."

"No!"

"Pauline."

"No."

"Um, let me see... Starlow?"

"Definitely not!"

"Is it Peach?"

"Huh? No..." Luigi prayed they wouldn't guess. They did.

"It's her, isn't it? Is it Peach? Aww!"

He smiled, defeated. "Yeah..."

"Cute."

"So, what do you guys think of her?" asked Luigi, curious.

"Hmmm. She's what you' call a hot nerd," said Wario.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Like, she's pretty an' all, but she's still a nerd."

"Peach is not a nerd! She's just smart."

"Aww, look at Luigi sticking up for his Peachy Pie!"

"Are you going to ask her out?"

"Eh... no. I'd probably embarrass myself."

The bell rang at that moment. As he walked into the classroom, he was stopped by Waluigi.

"Uh..."

"Listen here to me, freak. I'm the genius here. If you dare to do better than me in a test ever, again, I'll make you pay. Got it?"

Luigi was stunned into silence. Waluigi was a jerk, but could he really be that petty? He was going to walk away and ignore it, but why should he let a twelve year old tell him what to do?

"I don't see why I should have to change my grades for you of all people."

"What did you just say?"

"I said, I don't see why I should change my grades for you."

"Wah! Is that how it's gonna be? We'll see about that, pal."

"You're no pal of mine."

"Pfff."

They death stared each other, until the geography teacher told them to stop stalling and get inside. Luigi felt proud of himself for standing up to Waluigi, but what if he got him back for it?"

* * *

 **For once, I only wrote about one character! I hope you don't mind that Luigi likes Peach and Daisy likes Mario. I did it because Daisy kissed Mario at the end of _Super Mario Land_ , and because it's implied a couple of times that Luigi has a crush on Peach. Like I said, this _might_ change later on in the series. Don't want to give away any spoilers! Also, I thought it would be more realistic if Luigi was a little overwhelmed by Daisy at first, since their personalities contrast, and then he liked her more once he got to know her. And finally, I hope it's okay if I sneak in a few Italian words into Mario, Luigi and Wario's vocabulary. I won't be doing it all the time, only when I feel it warrants it. If you think it's annoying, I'll tone down on it a little. Tell me in the reviews what you think!**


	4. They're the Real Losers

**Hi, I'm back! It's a relatively short chapter, but it's foreshadowing for something bigger to come, so it's still important to the story. If you remember, Mimi and her allies (I won't call them friends) picked on Daisy on the first day of school. I put that in for a reason! It'll all be explained here. Also, if you think that Mimi, Pauline and Toadette are an incredibly random friend group and you don't like it, I apologise. I have my own reasons for putting the three together. Anyway, hope you like it!**

 **I want to thank JustTheClassicalGirl for favouriting my story.**

 **Disclaimer: As I've said already, everything belongs to Nintendo. I'm kind of tired of rewriting this over and over again! I should get a little more creative with my disclaimers.**

* * *

Daisy was dreading P.E. Each week, Mimi and her buddies, Pauline and Toadette, mocked her for her lack of ability at the subject. It was so humiliating.

She got changed in the locker room. The clique laughed as she put on her orange shorts and yellow top.

"Look how fat those legs are!"

"Are you sure you should be wearing shorts?"

"Hahaha! Loser!"

Daisy tried to stay strong and not cry, but sometimes it really got to her. She lowered her head as the threesome smirked and went to the P.E. hall. A few moments later she noticed her cousin approaching her.

"Hey Peach," she greeted, forcing a smile.

"Hi Daisy," said Peach, not fooled. "Everything okay?"

"Uh, yeah, why?"

"You look a bit upset..."

"No Peach, seriously. I'm fine."

The class itself didn't get much better. She was up against Pauline in badminton, and the redhead lost by a lot. She felt so stupid. The ball almost always whizzed past her, or hit off her head, causing the brunette to cackle at her.

She was very unfit, at the end of every class her face and body were as red as tomatoes, and she'd be shiny with sweat. She looked and felt like a fat pig, and Mimi and the others never failed to remind her of that. Come to think of it, her weight hadn't bothered her that much before, it was only since she'd started Toadstool Middle School.

Immediately after class Pauline went to her friends and they stood sniggering as they stared at her. Daisy went redder than ever as she went back to the locker room. " _They're the real losers,_ " she told herself angrily. " _Not me. Them._ "

She figured she should tell someone, like Peach, her parents, Mr Toadsworth, even Luigi, but was it that serious? Could it be considered... bullying?

Nah, they were just teasing. It'd stop soon.

Why her, though? Why not Yoshi, who could be described as obese? Maybe thay had mocked him, but he'd laughed it off, as he always did. Or maybe they just chose random people to pick on. Either way, she hoped it would cease someday.

* * *

 **I know Daisy is slightly out of character, but it matters to the plot and that will change. I'm aware that in the games, she loves sports and she's confident and all of that, and that side of her will be shown later on. Please review!**


	5. November

**Hi, I'm back! This chapter is slightly longer, and it'll focus on Waluigi's rivalry with Luigi; however, that rivalry will be taken a little further this time. There's no relevant reason why it's called _November_ , I'm not going to say why I called the chapter that because it's self explanatory! Hope you enjoy my latest update!**

 **I want to thank Avie-x for following my story.**

 **TheFire-FlowerPrincess;** **Thanks for the review and I'm so happy you like it! (sorry, I couldn't PM you)**

 **Disclaimer: I wish I the Mario characters were mine, but Nintendo are the ones who own them.**

* * *

Waluigi was becoming increasingly furious with the "Italian twerp" who constantly matched or beat his test results. Try as he might, he couldn't do better than Luigi. He decided he would carry out his threat and fight him after school.

During maths, he passed a note to him, which said:

"Luigi. Fight me after school. I want to finish you, just like I promised. Waluigi."

He waited for Luigi to scribble down a response and hand it back to him. Luigi's answer said:

"Sorry loser, I'm a pacifist. Not my fault you don't have my brains."

The nerve! So, the coward wasn't going to fight him? No problem. He'd find another way to get at him! What would hurt him the most? Hmm. He'd think about it at lunchtime.

* * *

At lunchtime, Waluigi sat at the "loner's table". This table was nicknamed so because it was the spot in the canteen where the people with no friends sat. At the moment, the only people he recognised were Ashley, Boo and Bowser.

He thought about it for a while, and about fifteen minutes later, Waluigi finally devised a plan to get revenge on Luigi.

Take Wario, Luigi's cousin, away from his friend group.

Of course, Mario or Toad or Yoshi would have been better alternatives, but they were too nice, whereas Wario had a huge weakness: greed. With bribery, Waluigi would slowly make Wario hang out with himself, and not his original friends, and use him to hurt and embarrass Luigi.

He could hardly wait to put his plot into action!

* * *

The following week in P.E. class, Waluigi seized his chance.

"Hey Wario," he called. "Wanna pair up with me for tennis?"

"But..." Mario had already asked Wario to play against him.

"Aw, c'mon! For a change? Just to challenge yourself. I do tennis after school."

"Sorry, I told Mario I'd go with him."

"Wario, aren't you playing?" asked Mario, approaching the pair.

"He's with me now," said Waluigi smugly.

"But Wario!"

Mario's cousin sighed. "Just this once, Mario. I want to see just how good this guy is."

"Oh. Okey dokey."

The pair started playing, and Wario soon realised he was no match for his opponent. The lanky teenager beat him after a couple of minutes.

"Okay... you... win..." panted Wario.

"Hmm. But you're really good too."

"Really?" Wario was surprised at the praise. It was Waluigi, after all. "Thanks, I guess?"

"You're welcome. That was fun, wasn't it? We should do this together more often."

" _Or not,_ " thought Wario. Still, a part of him had enjoyed that match, and he had been complimented by the moodiest jerk in his year, which was sort of an accomplishment. Maybe Waluigi wasn't the bad guy everyone was making him out to be. Maybe his friends, Luigi in particular, were being unfair.

Maybe he should hang out with him more.

* * *

 **Okay, that wasn't as long as I thought it was going to be. Anyway, I couldn't have written a middle school fic without some kind of friendship between Wario and Waluigi! Personally it would feel wrong. However, they're not going to be... normal friends. You'll see what I mean in later chapters! Everything will be cleared up in its own time. Please post a review!**


	6. New Friends

**I'm back with more to read! I've written way too much on Daisy, Luigi and Waluigi throughout the last chapters, so this chapter will focus more on Bowser. Also, there'll be a bit of swearing (because he's Bowser), but it'll be censored. I hope no one thinks I'm a prude for censoring, it's just that personally, I'm not into swearing that much, but I'm still okay with other people using bad language. Hopefully you'll like it and think I portrayed Bowser properly! Oh, and as you can probably see I added a new genre to this story: friendship. It seems to be a recurring theme in every chapter, that's why I put it there.**

 **Disclaimer: Nintendo owns everything, not me.**

* * *

Bowser was bored out of his brains at Toadstool Middle School. He felt like shaking things up a bit, maybe even bullying his peers. He loved a good old fight, and he didn't care about what Mr Toadsworth said.

He went to his locker to get his books, but Mario, a boy in his maths class, was in his way. Of course, the easiest thing to do would be to say excuse me or walk around him, but he did want a bit of fun, so... he'd annoy him and see what would happen!

"Out of my way, fata$$!"

"Excuse me?"

"Excuse _me_. Get your fata$$ out of my way."

"Did you just call me... fat?"

Bowser smirked, folding his arms. His weight was clearly a sensitive topic.

"Oh you mamma mia..." yelled Mario, gibbering away angrily in Italian.

"And short too. In more ways than one, I'll bet. Heh heh."

Mario growled and raised his fist. Bowser was shocked at the way this conversation was going. A wimp like Mario fight him? Okay, no problem!

The redhead started to hit Mario, already confident of his own victory. However, he had underestimated his opponent's fist power, who punched him so hard in the stomach that he was knocked to the ground. A crowd had gathered at that stage, and it was so humiliating for everyone to see him in this state.

Just as the battle was getting really heated, a teacher approached them, shouting, "How dare you fight in the corridor! You know the rules! Into Mr Toadsworth's office right now!"

The two boys stood up with serious faces. Despite what he's said to himself earlier, he didn't want to be in trouble in front of Mr Toadsworth.

* * *

"So, what happened?" sighed Mr Toadsworth, adjusting his glasses. "Master Mario, you go first."

"Well I was looking for the others, when Bowser started telling me to get out of his way and he called me a load of names. Like I don't even know why he did it! Then we fought, and... we ended up in here."

"Okay. And you, Master Bowser? Do you have anything to add to the story? Or is your story different?"

"Not really."

"So Master Mario's story is true?"

"Yes Sir." Geez, would he ever stop calling the students Miss and Master? It was really annoying and pointless."

"Well boys, since it's your first time in trouble, I'll let you off, but don't do it again, do you understand?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Next time is an automatic detention. I'll be keeping an eye on both of you, especially you, Master Bowser. You may leave now."

The two boys left without looking at each other, but this fight wasn't over as far as Bowser was concerned. He was going to get allies to get back at Mario for embarrassing him.

* * *

At lunchtime, for the first time, he spoke to the people sitting at his table.

"Guys."

Nobody answered.

"Guys!"

"Wha?" retorted Waluigi, irritated.

"I'm making up my own gang. Anyone want to join?"

The other three students continued eating in silence, so Bowser took it as a no. But he wasn't giving up so easily.

"C'mon, it'll be fun!"

"And just what will we be doing in this gang of yours?" asked Waluigi.

"Fighting Mario."

"Pfff, is that all? *Cough* Lame! *Cough*."

"Shut up, you anorexic b******!"

"And why would we want to fight Mario anyway?" mocked Waluigi, ignoring the slur about his weight.

"Because I said so, that's why!"

"Didn't know you were in charge here."

This wasn't going the way Bowser had expected. He'd thought that with his tough demeanour, the others would automatically relent. Waluigi in particular was annoying him a lot. Very well then. It was time for the threats.

"Ashley?" He stood up, raising an eyebrow intimidatingly.

Ashley didn't dignify his question with a response, and didn't even look up from her food.

" _I doubt she'd be any good anyway,_ " the redhead reassured himself. "Waluigi?"

"Will we be fighting Luigi?"

"Who the heck is Luigi?"

"Then no."

"So, Boo. I guess it's all down to you."

"Uhhh..." Boo blushed and stared at his lap.

"Hmm? Wanna join my gang?"

"Uhh... no..."

"What did you say?"

"No..."

"No?"

"No... I mean... yeah."

Bowser smirked triumphantly. But one person wasn't enough. He needed more people.

* * *

The next day, Bowser and his new ally, Boo, walked around the school in silence. Although it was November, the weather was unusually nice. The redhead looked for people he recognised from his year, and tried to work out which students would be the most likely to join his gang.

Eventually, they strolled past Goomba, Koopa Troopa and Dry Bones. They were losers, the lot of them, in his opinion. Bowser didn't think that unlike himself, they had friends, real friends.

They didn't seem very strong, but they'd be better than no one at all. Besides, he could easily threaten to fight them if they refused, and they were such wimps that they'd likely join him.

"Hey guys."

The trio cowered in fear. Bowser didn't have a good reputation with the others, as he was surly, rude, and unfriendly.

"Look, I'm setting up a gang to get back at Mario, and..."

"Why would you want to do that?"

Boo blushed uncomfortably, sensing trouble.

"Cos I say so, got it?"

"But..."

Bowser brought his fist close to their faces and looked down menacingly. "Listen here. You don't wanna join me? I'll beat all three of you up after school. Don't say I didn't warn you. So? What's the answer now, huh?"

They all nodded, barely muttering an answer.

"But Mario's a nice guy... do we really have to beat him up?" asked Koopa Troopa unwisely.

"It's not about what you think, it's about what I think! I'm in charge here now, got it?"

"Uh, yeah, sure!"

Bowser felt so smug. Now, beating up Mario was going to be much easier. He wished he could have chosen stronger people like Wario or Donkey Kong, but they would probably beat _him_ up before agreeing to go against Mario.

* * *

 **Okay, so you're probably wondering why Bowser didn't want to bully Waluigi: after all, he'd also dared to go against him. But you see, Bowser didn't like it that Mario had beaten him strength-wise. Like I said, he likes to make out he's Mr Tough Guy. So, did you like it? Or did you think it wasn't believable? Hopefully it was. The original version of this chapter was very rushed and implausible, so I changed it up quite a bit, even though the plot stayed the exact same, I just improved it. Anyway, tell me what you think!**

 **Also, I've started school:-(, so I don't know how often I'll be able to update.**


	7. Report Cards

**Yay, I'm back! Okay, I'm going to be honest with you all: this is sort of a filler chapter. It doesn't progress the plot much and I'm sorry if you were expecting more, I'll make up for it in the next chapters. The only reason I included this was that if I didn't, there would have been too big a time gap between the last chapter and the next one. This is the worst it's going to get, at least in my opinion, so please don't be put off by this!**

 **Disclaimer: Nintendo owns all of the characters.**

* * *

In homeroom, Mr Piranha had something to tell the students.

"Class, I've great news for some, and bad news for others. The report cards have been made out, and they'll be sent home tomorrow."

Mario's face was drained of colour. "Sir... what exactly is a report card?"

"A report card will have all of your overall grades on each subject written down."

"Oh, mamma mia," muttered Mario under his breath. "I'm screwed." He wasn't looking forward to his parents seeing his less than average results. Try as he might, he couldn't get better than a D, and he counted himself lucky if he got a C.

* * *

Two days later, the reports came home in the post. Mario was really worried, but Luigi seemed confident enough. Lucky him. He envied his brother's brains. Luigi didn't even study half the time and he still got straight A's.

"Mario, Luigi! Come over here!"

This was it. Time to meet his doom.

"So, Luigi, we'll open yours first," said Mamma, ripping the envelope. "Let me see... Ah, all A's! Well done Luigi, oh I'm so proud of you!" she said, and both parents hugged their son.

"Now for yours, Mario. Eh... hmmm, could do with a little improvement, huh? Too many D's... but at least you got one, two, three C's."

The older twin was pleasantly surprised. He was expecting one C at the most.

"I actually have been trying, though."

"It's true," said Luigi. "I've seen him."

Mario threw him a look of gratitude.

"Well, that's good," said Papa. "At least you're trying!"

"Yeah..." He felt so relieved. Now that the worry was all over, he could concentrate on Christmas!

* * *

 **Probably the shortest chapter yet, and for the rest of this fic. I wanted to portray Mario as the type who keeps trying to do well but can't. He's not the stereotypical "I'm too cool to study" type of guy. Also, while Luigi envies Mario's popularity, Mario is jealous of his grades. I guess some people always want what they don't have... And before anyone asks, there's not going to be a special Christmas chapter. Sorry about that!  
Also, I have a poll on my profile, it's not getting many votes but I'd really like your opinions on my profile picture: do you think I should change it? I wasn't sure if it was a little darkly coloured and unmemorable, I'll change it to something brighter that sticks out more if people didn't like my picture.  
Please review!**


	8. New Semester

**Hi! I just thought of this now: you know how I said this is set in America? Well, I never said in the actual story that it was set there, only in the author's notes. So... just imagine it to be wherever you want, though I wanted it to sound like it was in America because a lot of fanfic readers and writers are from there. I'm rambling, aren't I? Truth is, I don't know what else to say for this A/N, so... yeah. Anyway, hope you like the latest update!**

 **I want to thank CartmanBrah42 for following and favouriting my story.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything belonging to Nintendo.**

* * *

Daisy was disappointed that she'd gained weight over Christmas. She didn't want to give Mimi and her friends an excuse to bully her again this semester, but how could she resist the pudding, and the sweets, and the chocolate?

That morning she put on a thick woolly jumper to hide her stomach. Each day, she hated going to school because of Mimi. She looked disgusting, she'd never get a boyfriend. No wonder Mario didn't like her back.

Her father drove her up to the school, and her fears returned. The holidays had been a relief, but now it was all coming back to her.

She entered the school and saw Mimi, Pauline and Toadette, laughing. As she neared the clique, they started snorting (well, as she looked closer, Toadette was doing it half-heartedly), imitating a pig. That was their name for her: piggy.

Each day, her self esteem lowered. Peach asked her sometimes if anything was wrong, but she didn't tell her the real reason. She'd say that she was tired, or was in a bit of a foul mood. Her friend was unconvinced, but didn't pursue the matter.

She went to her locker. She rummaged through her books and picked out the ones she needed. After a minute or so, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She whirled around and to her surprise she saw Toadette, with an uneasy but genuine smile on her face.

"Hey," she said.

Daisy couldn't help thinking that this was some kind of joke. What did she want with her now? She assumed Mimi or Pauline had asked her to come and make fun of her.

"Look, Daisy... I'm sorry I was mean to you. I... I won't do it again. It's just... Mimi... she's very... um... you know."

The redhead was getting more suspicious by the minute.

"Oh yeah?"

"Y-yeah, I'm so, so sorry, I hope..."

"Well... if you're that sorry..."

"Yes, I am!"

"Why do you still hang out with her?"

Toadette was silent and taken aback by her response.

"I mean, who's forcing you to?"

"Uhh..."

"Ugh. You make me sick. Leave me alone, okay?" And with that, Daisy walked off to find Peach. She found her in the library, studying for an upcoming test.

"Hey Peach."

"Hi."

The friends were quiet for a moment. Daisy wondered whether she should tell the blonde what was happening. How dare Toadette approach her like that, expecting forgiveness. She'd just seen her laughing along with the other two bullies. What a hypocrite.

"Peach?"

"Um Daisy, I'm a little busy right now, this is a really hard chapter, but I didn't really want to waste my holidays studying, so..."

"Um... I think... we might need to talk..."

Peach looked up from her book. "What do you mean? Is there something wrong?"

She took a deep breath. "Yeah. There is."

"Tell me about it."

"But I thought..."

"The test can wait," she said, closing her textbook as if to prove a point. "So, what's wrong?"

"Um, you know Mimi, and Pauline and Toadette..."

"Course I do. They're the most popular girls on our year. Why?"

"Well, you see..." She took a deep breath once more before blurting it all out. "They keep mocking me about my weight and the way I'm bad at sports and it's happening all the time and... yeah, you get the message."

"Hmmm. How long has this been going on for?"

"Since October, I think?"

"Since October?" exploded Peach. "But... but..." It was January now, so... this had been happening for about three months, right under her nose, and she hadn't copped it? How? What a bad friend she was! Of course, Daisy had turned a little odd since starting school, but it didn't occur to her that bullying was the reason! "OMG, I'm so sorry, Daisy! I should have noticed!"

"Eh... it's okay."

"No, it's not. I can't believe you were being bullied all this time and I didn't do anything to help..."

"No Peach! It's my fault for not telling you. Don't blame yourself. I'm fine."

"You're not fine! This is really serious Daisy. We have to tell Mr Toadsworth!"

"No! They'll think I'm telling tales. Besides, it'll only get worse."

"Ugh, I feel like I'm in some stereotypical high school movie! It _never_ gets worse after you tell, it gets better!"

"Oh really? Well I heard a story about this guy who was being bullied, and..."

"That's a rare case! It nearly always works out when you tell!"

"Please Peach, don't tell Mr Toadsworth."

"So you're just going to wait til it gets worse?"

"No, no, it's just... just leave it, okay?"

Peach gave her a look of reproach. "Whatever you say, Daisy. I guess I can't force you."

The bell rang and the two girls walked to their classes in silence. She decided she wouldn't tell her about Toadette. She pondered on what Peach had said. Maybe she was right, maybe she should tell the principal? She wasn't sure of anything anymore. Her life had gotten so much more complicated since she'd started middle school.

" _Okay,_ " she vowed in her head. " _If they bully me one more time, I'm telling Mr Toadsworth._ "

After all, it could only get better when she told the principal, couldn't it?

* * *

 **Well, that was longer than I thought it would be! I lengthened it quite a bit because as with some of the other chapters, it seemed rushed to the point of implausible, which is the one thing I _don't_ want this fic to be. Also, I'm going to stay away from Daisy's situation for a bit and focus more on some of the other characters in the next couple of chapters, and also I may be adding a little bit of romance soon! Who do you think it'll involve? You'll have to wait and see! I'm aware that there isn't much of it at the moment or in this fic in general, I don't know why it turned out that way but... hopefully that's not a bother to anyone. Anyway, most of the romance is saved for the rest of the fics in this series. So, what did you think of this chapter? Tell me in the reviews!**


	9. Money Talks

**Hi! You've probably noticed by now that I changed the rating from T to K+. The only reason I made it T was because of the swearing, but then I asked myself, if it's censored anyway then what's the point in upping the rating? Anyway, I hope you like this!**

 **Guest : No, I don't do collabs at the moment. Maybe one day?**

 **(second) Guest: Thank you! You've made my day, I'm really flattered!**

 **I want to thank Mariocest for favouriting this story.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything that belongs to** **Nintendo.**

* * *

Wario and Waluigi were becoming fast friends, a fact that didn't go unnoticed by the former's buddies.

"How come you always pair up with him for P.E.?" questioned Mario.

"And you barely hang out with us anymore!" said Toad.

"That's true I guess, but I still think you're being unfair to him," answered Wario.

"Pfff! If anyone's being unfair it's him, not us!" scorned Luigi. "I can't get a good grade without him threatening to get back at me! Heh, of course he's not man enough to carry out his threats."

"Maybe he's too nice to carry out his threats."

"Don't make me laugh."

"Look here, Waluigi's a good friend to me, so if you have a problem with me hanging out with other people, then that's too bad!" And with that Wario stormed off and went to join Waluigi at the canteen. Who cared if it was called the loner's table anyway. Who did they think they were, controlling who he spoke to?

"Hey."

"Hey Wario. Just who I wanted to see."

"Huh?"

"Look, can we talk? Not here, I mean."

"What? Why?"

"I need your help."

The two boys walked to the back of the school in silence. Wario wondered what could he want with him. He'd never been this vague before.

"Look, you know how much I hate Luigi, don't you?" he said when they were away from everyone.

"Yeah?"

"Well... I want to get back at him."

"But... all he's done is get better grades than you, right?"

"Hmmm, I guess, but... he's not as nice as you may think..."

"What?"

"I dunno. He is your cousin. Maybe I won't say anything at all."

"No, tell me."

"It's not that serious... like, he's always smirking at me whenever he does well... it gets to me sometimes. Eh, but it's fine."

Waluigi looked so upset that Wario felt a bit of pity for him. He'd always thought that his friends were being unjust towards him, Luigi in particular. He hadn't known that his cousin could be so mean. Well, it was more petty than mean, but still...

"So, I want you to help me sabotage his grades. Tomorrow we're having a maths test. That's good, because I won't have to change my writing that much. So, I'll pay you _twenty dollars_ if you can pull this off."

"Twenty dollars...? W-what exactly do I have to do?"

"Okay, here's the plan. First, she's going to give out the tests as normal. But here's the catch. Miss Kersti usually has a spare test with her. When she hands them all out, I'll somehow hide my paper and tell her she didn't give me one. She'll have to give me her spare, and I'll answer both tests. On the first one, I'll write my name and answer correctly. On the second paper, however, I'll write Luigi's name, and I'll make sure I make loads of mistakes. I'll aim for a B-, or a C."

"Why don't you fail and where will you get the time to do two tests?"

"It wouldn't be believable. He's bound to question it of he answers everything and does really badly. And where will I get the time? I'm smart. I'll get them done in no time."

"Yeah, but won't there be two tests with the name Luigi on them?"

"This is where you come in. When you see Luigi put his test on Miss Kersti's desk, you go up straight away with your own test, but before you put yours on the desk, take his when no one's looking and hide it in your pocket or somewhere. Meanwhile, I'll bring up both my tests at the same time, if you know what I'm saying. Remember, if you can pull this off, you get twenty dollars. So, what do you think?"

"Why do I have to be involved? Why can't you just do it all yourself?"

"First off, I'm basically doing all of the hard work. Second, I thought we were friends?"

"Y-yeah, I guess so..."

"So?"

Wario was unsure. He was torn between being loyal to his cousin and disbelieving what Waluigi had said about him, or facing that Luigi wasn't as nice as he seemed and getting twenty dollars. Twenty dollars... hard to decline such an amount... In the end, he let his greed get the better of him.

"It's a deal," he said, shaking hands.

* * *

Wario was a little nervous about this plan when he went into maths class the next day. It was all it took for him to give up on it. But that would mean risking his friendship with Waluigi, who'd been nice to him, plus he couldn't resist the money. " _Twenty dollars,_ " he chanted in his head. " _Twenty dollars, twenty dollars, twenty dollars..._ "

The test started, but Wario could barely concentrate on the problems in front of him. He knew he was going to fail this test. Every time he heard footsteps he had to look up and see was it Luigi. He wasn't even finished when the boy in green handed up his test.

Wario got up. He glanced at the class to see if anyone was watching. No, they were too focused on their questions. Thankfully Miss Kersti was at the back of the classroom, correcting work.

He quickly grabbed Luigi's test from the top of the pile, folded it up as quietly as possible and went back to his seat. He looked down at Waluigi, who grinned at him. It was the first time Wario had seen him smile. Again, he had doubts about whether he should have went along with the plan, but it was done. He couldn't turn back now.

After class, a laughing Waluigi handed him a dollar bill.

"Hehehe! I can't wait to see his face tomorrow! And I've more surprises in store for that twerp! Of course, you'll be getting paid, pal."

Wario forced a smile, fearing he was trapped in a cycle he couldn't get out of.

* * *

The next day, Luigi was looking forward to getting back his results. It was the easiest chapter so far, and he was confident that he'd gotten at least ninety five percent.

"I don't have the tests with me right now, so I won't be able to give them out to you today," explained Miss Kersti, "but I'll still be calling out the results. Waluigi, you're top of the class with a hundred percent!"

The skinny teenager got a clap from Wario. Luigi thought his cousin's behaviour was getting weirder and weirder. Before he joined in when they had a rant about Waluigi, but now he always stuck up for him.

"Next is Peach with ninety eight, Goombella with eighty nine, Ashley with eighty eight, Pauline with eighty seven..."

He glanced at his rival, who had a smug smile on his face. Why wasn't his name being called out? He zoned out in panic until he heard his name.

"Luigi, this is disappointing for your standards! Seventy percent? What happened?"

Waluigi sneered as Luigi furrowed his eyebrows confusedly. Seventy percent? How? _How_? He tried to hold back his tears as Miss Kersti revealed the rest of the results.

He walked quickly out of class as soon as the bell rang, hearing Waluigi's taunts behind him.

"Hehehe! What's wrong Luigi? Upset cos I did better than you? Heh, looks like you're not the braniac anymore! Hehehe!"

"Luigi," said Mario. "Are you alright?"

Luigi couldn't hold it back anymore and started to cry.

"Aw Mario, mamma mia, I don't know where I went wrong, I was so sure..."

"Ah, don't worry, it's only one test. You should try being me for a day, hee hee! Seriously, I'd be so happy with a B-. This was my best test and it was still only a C+!"

By then, Yoshi, Toad and Wario had gathered around their friend.

"Eh, at least you didn't get a D like me!"

"It's just one test, you've done really well every other time!"

"Just... forget it," stammered Wario. The others looked at him. "Change the subject. It won't help if we rant on about it for too long."

"I guess," sniffed Luigi. "But I don't understand... I thought I did great!"

Wario shrugged it off and quickly spoke about a different topic.

* * *

 **What did you think? I was originally going to do this chapter slightly differently, but it was too much like another chapter of a book I've read, so I changed it up a bit. Also, Wario is very greedy in the games, so I thought this would be his biggest flaw in this fic. In my opinion, Waluigi is worse than Wario, so that's why I made the former more of a jerk. Actually, in this story, Wario's otherwise not a bad guy, it's just that he loves money. And like he said, Waluigi's not finished with his rival. There's more to come...**


	10. Bowser's First Crush

**Hi! Finally, I'm adding romance to the story, I'm sure lots of people will be delighted to hear. Again, there'll be censored swearing because I thought if Bowser was a human teenager that's what he'd do. Oh, and in case anyone gets offended, Bowser says at some stage that all nerds are losers, and he makes slurs against people's weight. This does not represent what I think, in fact I'm a little bit of a nerd so it'd be silly to insult myself. I know I probably don't need to be excusing myself all the time but in a world where everyone must be politically correct, I feel it's the safest way to go. ****Hope you enjoy the latest update!**

 **Shelberry : True! I do think that even in the games, he's not all bad. I always consider Waluigi to be the more evil of the two. Thanks for the review!**

 **Review Booster : Really cool review and thanks!**

 **Also I want to thank Fairly Odd M.L for favouriting.**

 **Disclaimer: Nintendo owns everything.**

* * *

"... and this is how we'll beat Mario up! He'll never go near us after that!"

"That's a stupid idea!" Goomba piped up. "And I dunno why you're still obsessed with beating Mario up! Can't we just drop it and admit he's stronger than you?"

"Yeah!"

"Well I think it's a great idea!" raged Bowser, purposefully ignoring the comment about Mario's superior strength. "Let's see what ideas you clowns have for me!"

His four "friends" though it best to stay silent. They hadn't got any ideas and neither did they care enough to think of any.

"Thought so. So anyway... oh, there's Peach," he muttered, his expression softening. His voice trailed off as he recalled the first time he'd seen her...

* * *

 _Bowser was signing his name on the desk with his pencil, his head down. The class were introducing themselves, but he honestly didn't care about the others. It wasn't like he wanted to be friends with any of them._

 _The third person to walk to the top of the classroom started speaking. Startled by her overly sweet voice, his head shot up for a second, assuming that she was one of those "cutie pie" girls who annoyed the heck out of him._

 _His quick glance turned into a stare, and he realised with growing horror that he was blushing, and he prayed that no one had noticed. He listened as she told the class her name, which was Peach. If it had been anyone else he would have sneered at her fruity name, but not her._

 _Then, she said that her grand uncle was principal, and that her ancestors had founded the school. Again, he would have called anyone else a teacher's pet._

 _From then on, he always tried to talk to her, but he was too... scared. Scared? But he was never scared! What was it about Peach that made him feel this way?_

* * *

He stared at her as she spoke to Daisy or Diana or whatever her name was.

"Bowser?"

She was so hot...

"Bowser!"

"Huh?" The redhead got a fright as he realised Dry Bones had been calling his name. His face heated up as he had been caught watching his crush. He awkwardly tried to bluff his way out of the situation.

"Uhhh, I was just thinking... Peach's so rich, isn't she?" No, why did he have to go and say that of all things?

"Yeah, I guess?" agreed the others.

"And smart..." he added, digging an even deeper hole for himself.

"Yeah."

Suddenly, Goomba started to speak, narrowing his eyes and smirking. "Why are you always on about Peach?"

"And staring at her?"

"Do you like her or something?"

Bowser grabbed Koopa Troopa by the neck. "No I don't like her, got it smarta$$? But I will be asking her out, wanna know why? Cos I want a rich girlfriend, understand? I want her money. _That's_ why I'm always on about her. I'd never go out with her if she wasn't rich, she's just a hot nerd, all nerds are losers, see?"

"Oh, but you think she's hot?"

"Uhhh, course I do. Everyone does. Doesn't mean I like her."

"I'm not buying this," teased Koopa Troopa, waiting for Bowser to slip up even more. "If you're asking her out because of her money, then wouldn't it make more sense to ask Daisy out? She's richer than Peach, isn't she?"

Bowser hesitated. "Well, um, you see, I'm also concerned about my image, and, I wouldn't want a fat b**** like Daisy tagging along with me, and... it just _looks_ better if I have a hot girlfriend, get it?"

"Hmmm... So... you know how you said you're asking her out?"

"Uhh... yeah?"

"Are you going to ask her out... now?"

"Eh... no."

"Ha ha! You're scared of getting rejected!"

"I'm not scared! Why would anyone reject me?" Deep down, Bowser knew the answer. It was nothing to do with his looks, it was the fact that he was a bit... different from the others. And not in a good way.

"I triple dare you to ask her out now!"

"Hmmm... I guess I can't say no to a dare."

He nervously walked up to Peach, but tried not to show it. " _Please let her say yes, please let her say yes,_ " he thought.

"Uh... hi Peach."

"Hi?" The blonde eyed him suspiciously. Bowser had a bad reputation among his peers. He was regarded as someone to fear.

"Uh... um... I want to ask you something... do you want to, um... go out with me?"

Daisy's eyes were wide with curiosity. " _Nosy b****,_ " he thought, wishing that she wasn't there.

"Sorry Bowser, I'm sure you're a... great guy, but no. Sorry."

Bowser was furious. His allies were going to laugh so much when they found out. He hurled insults at his crush, sneering to mask his anger and embarrassment.

"Heh... that's okay, it was just a dare anyway. No one in their right mind would want to go out with a nerdy b**** like you."

Peach blinked in disbelief. "Excuse me? What did you just call me?"

"Uh..."

The blonde stood up and slapped his face. Everyone around them gasped, waiting to see what would happen next. Even people who weren't involved stopped what they were doing and stared.

Bowser rubbed his smarting cheek, confused. Was this the same kind, well mannered Peach he had been watching for months?

"Okay, okay," he said when he'd recovered. "I get the message. F****** b****," he muttered, storming off. His friends were still in the same place, smirking.

" _Crap, they saw it all!_ " he thought.

"So, Bowser," said Goomba, "how did it feel when she slapped you?"

"I thought you said you'd never get rejected?"

"Lol!"

"Shut up! At least I had the guts to ask her out!" he snarled, shoving them aside and walking away.

The others were delighted. They had a mutual hate for Bowser, and considered it a privilege when they left him alone. The only pro of being forced to hang around with him was whenever they mocked him and he had no decent comeback.

"Poor Bowser!" chuckled Goomba, not feeling sorry for him at all.

" _Why would anyone reject me_?" mimicked Koopa Troopa in a mocking tone.

"And then when she slapped him, hehehe!" spluttered Dry Bones.

Even Boo cracked a smile.

"Seriously though, do you think he actually likes Peach?"

"Sure he does, it's obvious. All he does is rant on about her when he's not mad at us or at Mario. " _Peach is so rich, isn't she guys? Peach is so smart guys! And I don't like her at all, all I want is her money, yap yap yap!"_ Yeah, sure, like I'm gonna believe that."

"He might just want a hot girlfriend though, and a rich one, and Peach is all of that."

"Who knows what goes on in his head. Either way, she deserves better than him."

"Yeah."

"But he definitely likes her. He got so mad when we made fun of him."

"Who cares? Let him like her. I don't give a crap about him."

"You know what would be hilarious though? If Peach liked Mario."

" _Yeah_!"

"Look guys, let's talk about something else, we've been rambling on about Bowser and Peach for way too long."

"Yeah. Oh, guys, you won't believe how much homework Miss Tippi gave us for science..."

* * *

Peach was fuming after the incident. The nerve! How dare he treat her like that? She'd done nothing wrong!

Next to her, Daisy was smirking. She was in a good mood these days, because Mimi hadn't provoked her for a few weeks.

"Looks like _someone_ has an admirer!"

"Shut up, Daisy." She didn't want to be rude to her friend, especially after what she'd gone through, but she couldn't help it. "Besides, I think he hates me now."

"What? No! What are you talking about, he only got mad because you rejected him! He so likes you."

"I doubt it."

"Aww, c'mon, can't you see how nervous he was?"

"Yeah, whatever."

Daisy's frustration was evident. "How can you just shrug it off? I wish some guy liked me, especially if it was Mario. I mean, can't you see how exciting this is? Somebody likes you, Peach! I know he's not the nicest but that makes it even cuter! I mean..."

"I'm not exactly proud of Bowser asking me out!"

"Yeah, but Peach, you have to admit, he's kind of handsome. I don't like him, obviously, but still."

The blonde thought about it. "I suppose, but... look, let's just drop it, okay? Forget this ever happened."

"Okay... but wasn't it hilarious when you slapped him? His face!"

"Daisy!"

"Sorry! Geez, you're so huffy..."

* * *

 **So, that's what happened when Bowser asked Peach out. Never underestimate the blonde princess, she's not as helpless as she seems... though of course she's a regular person in this fic. By the way, during the "minions'" conversation some sentences are italicised, and that's because they are mimicking Bowser. You've probably guessed that already, though. Also, during the same conversation, I didn't always say who said what: that's because it doesn't really matter, but just so you know, Boo is shy, so chances are he didn't say much, if anything at all. I'll leave it up to you to decide who said what. And finally, to end my meaningless rant, Daisy DOES NOT like Bowser, she just thinks he's handsome. Same goes for Bowser's buddies, they think Peach is hot but none of them have a crush on her. Just wanted to clear up any possible confusion.  
So, hopefully you thought this was written realistically! I look forward to hearing what you all think. Just to say that I'm really appreciating all the feedback I'm getting lately, it makes me so happy to know that people are enjoying my story. Bye!  
**


	11. The Card

**Hi, I'm back! So, in the last chapter we saw Peach's sassier side, but now she's back to nice. Enjoy! Oh, by the way half of this was written on my phone, so... there may be a few errors.**

 **Thanks to JustTheClassicalGirl for adding me in a community!**

 **Not a Guest** **: Yeah, you're right. I'm so glad you told me, I wouldn't have realised it otherwise and I'll try and stop doing it in future! Thanks for the feedback!**

 **Shelberry:** **I'm so glad you told me now, or I'd have made the same mistake over and over again. I'll try and work on that and thanks for reviewing!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own any characters belonging to Nintendo.**

* * *

While everyone else was concerned with Valentine's Day, Waluigi's mind was filled with ideas on how to embarrass Luigi. What could he do? His love related ideas included tying his shoelaces together so he'd fall in front of his crush (if he had one), pushing him into his crush, and sending a cheesy card to his crush, signed by Luigi (an oldie but a goodie).

Eventually he settled on the latter, since it was the easiest to carry out. All he needed to do was find out who his rival's crush was and get hold of his handwriting.

He found Wario the day before the event was going to take place and told him of his scheme.

"So, Wario. Do you know who Luigi likes? Does he even like anyone?"

"Yeah, he does, it's Peach."

"Peach... That's the blonde one, right?"

"Right."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, he said it."

"Hehehe! Great! So, Wario, I'll need you to get a page of Luigi's handwriting."

Wario narrowed his eyes. "Am I getting paid?"

"Oh yeah, yeah! Five dollars for this task... and another five for the next task, which is putting the card in Peach's locker."

"What is her locker number?"

"Oh, I don't know. You'll have to find that out, won't you? Two dollars for that."

Wario didn't even think about it this time. "It's a deal."

* * *

Firstly, Wario stalked Peach to find out her locker number. Number twenty six.

Then, he asked Luigi if he could copy his history homework.

"No problem," he smiled. "Just change it up a bit so it's not obvious."

"Okey dokey."

He gleefully stuffed the copy into his bag and walked off to find Waluigi. Again, that familiar feeling of guilt emerged, but he squashed it down. He was getting a fair amount of money for this, and he wasn't going to reject the offer!

He found him sitting at the loner's table, and opened his bag.

"Here Waluigi."

"Hehehe! Did you get her number?"

"Twenty six."

"Okay. Now, let me see his handwriting... Yes, it's not that different from mine. Shouldn't be too hard. Now, I bought a pink Valentine's card yesterday. Let's get to work!"

"But Waluigi, I'm useless at writing!"

"Don't worry, I'll be doing this part."

"Do I get paid for watching?"

"No."

The evil genius replicated his enemy's handwriting. He finished in a matter of minutes, and showed it to Wario. The very corny message went like this:

"Dear Peach,

Oh, how I wish I had the courage to ask you out in person! But, being a lowly coward, I can only express my love for you in this way.

I adore everything about you, from the way you walk to your soft feminine voice! How your beautiful eyes shimmer and sparkle like the rippling blue ocean... How your luscious hair resembles the most valuable gold... How the pink garments you often wear complement your marble white skin... How I would love to kiss your delicate rose coloured lips... How your dazzling smile makes me melt inside... How your personality is as attractive as your wonderful exterior... How I would love nothing more than to get to know you better!

Alas, I am not worthy of your love. If only you felt the same... Please, Peach Toadstool, if you can return my feelings, meet me in the canteen at half past one. If you do not care at all, leave a note in my locker, number 12.

Until then, I await your answer.

Your secret admirer,

Luigi Mario"

"So, you think this is good enough?"

Wario roared with laughter. "This is the cringiest thing I've ever read, it's hilarious! But is Peach going to believe it? I mean, it's not very realistic..."

"It's not supposed to be realistic. This is just to embarrass Luigi. Hehehe, I'd love to see his face, but I'm probably not going to see the plan in action."

"Eh. Doesn't matter." " _As long as I'm getting paid,_ " he thought.

"Now, you can't forget to put it into her locker tomorrow, got it?"

"Yep."

* * *

At recess the next day, Peach opened her locker to get her books, as always. It may have been Valentine's Day, but it felt like a pretty normal day to her. What was the big deal anyway? It was only romantic if you actually had a boyfriend.

As she pulled out her science copybook at the top of the pile, a pink envelope fell at her feet.

" _Oooh, is this a Valentine's card? Interesting... Ugh yuck, I hope it's not from Bowser!_ " were her initial thoughts.

She opened the envelope and found a heart shaped card. She read the lengthy message, and gasped with shock when she saw the name at the end. "Luigi?" she muttered in disbelief. He was the quiet boy Daisy was friends with, wasn't he? Then it occurred to her that it was most likely a joke, and she felt a little stupid. As far as she knew no one apart from Bowser liked her.

She walked over to Daisy, who was also getting her books.

"Daisy, look! I got a card, but I think..."

"Cool!" she interrupted. "Who gave it to you? Or is it anonymous?"

"No it's signed, it's from Luigi, but I doubt..."

"Luigi? Say what now?"

"Um Daisy, I think it's a..."

"Wow, I never thought he liked you that way, I mean he's never said anything... Maybe he was too shy to tell me... Can I read the card?"

"Uhh... yeah, sure."

The redhead scanned her eyes over the card, and she looked fit to burst. When she couldn't take it anymore, she exploded and almost cried from laughing. "OMG! I can't believe he actually wrote that!"

"Oh Daisy, I doubt this is legit! Who would actually write that?"

"Eh... yeah. You have a point. But... what if he actually did write it? I'm in his English class and he's really good at writing stories. And that is is handwriting."

"Okay... maybe I should talk to him? I highly doubt he did this, but just in case... I mean, you'd know him better than me, and if you say that's his handwritng then..."

"Yeah, go talk to him. At least then you'll know for sure! Can I go with you? Or is that a bad idea?"

"It's fine, I'll go myself."

Peach went into the canteen and looked around her. A group of eighth graders, Waluigi and Ashley, Starlow, Bowser and his buddies. None of them the person she was after. She scanned her eyes over the rest of the tables, and finally saw Luigi, chatting to his friends.

Luigi noticed that the others were smirking, so he glanced behind him. To his horror, it was Peach, and he couldn't repress a blush.

"Hey Luigi!" smiled the blonde. "Um... can we talk?"

Mario laughed quite loudly, and it was all Luigi could do not to punch him in the face.

"Uhh... s-sure!"

He nervously strolled next to his crush as she took him somewhere away from the others. What could she want him for? What on earth would he say to her? As those thoughts crossed his mind, he noted that Bowser was staring at the pair angrily, and looked like he wanted to destroy the guy in green.

" _What's his problem?"_ wondered Luigi.

He snuck in a look at Peach, oblivious to it all. He liked her so much... what if he messed up talking to her, like he always did?

They sat down at an empty table, and Peach giggled so cutely that he went red again.

"Um... hee hee... I've something quite awkward to ask you... did you write... this?"

Luigi stared at the pink card she held out to him.

"A-a Valentine's card?"

"Yeah."

"Me? N-no! That wasn't me, I swear! Why would I send you a card, heh heh? P-please, n-no offence, I'm sure you'll get loads of cards from other guys, I'm not saying you're ugly or anything like that, but... I just... ugh, I just didn't send it! Luigi's face was now puce. Obviously it was a prank, but who could have done it? He thought of all his friends. Who was the most likely to do something like that?

Mario. Of course. He'd kill him when he got back. No wonder he'd laughed when Peach asked for him.

"It's okay, I get what you mean! I knew it was weird."

"Y-yeah, heh heh! But Peach... what exactly did the card say?"

"Here it is."

Luigi cringed as he read the message. Strange... it sounded like something he would have written for a descriptive writing essay.

Wait. Mario wasn't that smart! Then again, he could have looked it up online.

"Well I'm glad this is cleared up!" smiled Peach.

"Yeah... it was obviously a joke. I bet it was Mario."

"Yeah, probably. That's what brothers do, I guess. Bye then!"

"Bye..."

" _Better make the most of this, I'll probably never talk to her again,_ " he said to himself.

As Luigi walked back to his table, his happiness was replaced with anger. Mario knew how awkward he was. How dare he embarrass him like that? He practically ran over to his brother, death staring him in the process.

"How could you?"

"Huh?"

"You sent that card didn't you? Admit it, it was you!"

"What the heck Luigi?"

"Aw c'mon, I'm not stupid! You sent a cringy Valentine's card, to Peach of all people, I mean what is wrong with you?"

"No, no! I mean I might have done it to Yoshi or Toad or Wario..."

"Hey!" said the others.

"But I'd never do it to you. I know what you're like, bro."

"Yeah," said Wario. "Mario... he wouldn't stoop that low."

"Then who was it?"

"I don't know. But you don't still think it was me, do you Luigi?"

He hesitated. "Eh... I guess not."

Mario grinned. Luigi was going to try and forget about it, but he was still curious. Who was it?

* * *

 **Hopefully you enjoyed this! I'm a bit busy at the moment so it might be a long time before I update again, but we'll see what happens. Please leave a review!**


	12. Party Pooper

**Hi all! As you can see, I managed another chapter and I'm hoping to keep it this way, but it could be a while til the next. This and the next are probably the most eventful parts of the story, so... Yeah. Oh, and from now on I won't be answering anyone by PM anymore. Everyone's review will be answered in the A/N. Hope there's no confusion over this.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything belonging to Nintendo.**

* * *

Finally, the Easter holidays arrived. In celebration of that, Toad and Toadette were hosting a party at their house. It was going to be Easter themed, and everyone was really excited for the event.

Daisy was at Peach's mansion, discussing what they were going to wear for the night.

"So, what do you think?" asked the blonde. "You think it's a good idea?"

"Uhh... I don't know... I mean, no one else is gonna be dressed as a rabbit. We're gonna look so... childish."

"Aww, please? Apart from Halloween it'll probably be our last time dressing up, like, live a little while we're still kids!"

"But we're not kids. We're thirteen."

Peach rolled her eyes. "Please Daisy. Just this once."

She sighed. She secretly wanted to wear a costume too, but she didn't want to give Toadette the privilege of laughing at her. Then again, her friend was more important.

"Fine..."

"Yay!"

"I don't have my own, like. Do you have any spares?"

"Actually, I do. It's in the attic. I'll get Papa to get it."

Peach called him and after a few minutes her father climbed down the ladder with a grey costume.

"Sorry it's not pink like mine."

"It's okay. I'm not really a pink sort of person."

"Hmm. I can't wait, can you?"

"I guess, but you sure it's a good idea to go to Toadette's party? I mean, it's Toadette."

"Eh... probably. I mean, her mom's going to be there."

"I guess. Well, if you're sure..."

Daisy went home, but she still wasn't entirely positive about the whole situation. She spent the rest of the next day fretting, but tried to stay cheerful about it. She returned to Peach's house that Friday evening so they could get ready together.

They each went into different bathrooms, and by the time Daisy had got into her costume, Peach was already dressed. The redhead felt a twinge of envy. While Peach looked cute as a rabbit, her costume made her look chubbier than ever. But she tried not to let it get to her.

Peach's father drove them up to Toad and Toadette's place in their black limousine.

"Have a good time," he said to the girls. "And Peach, you know the score: no bad behaviour, no drinking, drugs, smoking, or boyfriends. Unless they're rich," he added seriously.

"I know Papa, you don't need to keep saying it!" said the exasperated blonde, rolling her eyes, but she still planted a small kiss on his cheek.

"Have fun!"

The party was in full swing when they entered. Some of the boys stared at Peach, most notably Bowser and... Luigi? But nobody approached her. Sometimes, Daisy felt that if only Peach flirted more, she might get a boyfriend. She had the looks, after all.

She couldn't help feeling self conscious. No one was as dressed up as they were; most only wore their normal clothes. Well... what was done was done.

Suddenly, she noticed Mimi, obviously flirting with Mario. She could barely contain her anger. It was too much!

"Peach," she hissed. "Look!"

Her friend looked at the pair. "Oh... Daisy!"

"I know right? Do you think she knows I like him?"

"Doubt it. It's not that obvious. Hey, what are you looking at me like that for? I haven't told anyone!"

Daisy sighed. She averted her gaze from Mimi and Mario as another person caught her eye. It was Luigi, trying out some of the food on his own, and he was also dressed as a rabbit! At least they weren't alone...

"I'll go talk to Luigi. Keep an eye on Mimi, won't you?"

"How do I not make it obvious?"

"Hide behind a press. Pretend you're checking your phone or something."

"Okay."

Daisy felt gutted, absolutely gutted! Of all people! Little did she know, her night was about to get much worse.

She joined Luigi and they smiled at each other.

"Hey Daisy! Have you eaten the homemade cookies yet? They're delicious. Try them!"

Daisy was internally debating whether she should accept his offer or not. She really wanted a cookie, but she thought about the comments Mimi and her friends had made.

"Thanks... but no."

"Why not?"

She patted her tummy. "I'm going on a diet."

Luigi chuckled. "I'll never understand women."

She snuck in a look at Mario before asking, "Um, Luigi? Does Mario like anyone at the moment?"

"No one that I know of."

Daisy took the news with mixed feelings. She was glad he didn't like anyone else (especially Mimi), but that meant he didn't like _her_ , either.

"Not too bad, I guess... Mario doesn't know I like him, does he Luigi?"

Luigi choked on his cookie. "N-no!"

Daisy pretended to be cross. "You told him, didn't you. Admit it."

"I didn't, honest!"

"Hmm. So why is your face all red?"

"Okay, I did! Y-you're not mad, are you? You didn't say it was a secret, so I thought..."

"It's okay!" She put her arm around him. "I don't care that much. It's not like he'll ever like me back anyway."

"Aww, don't say that! I'm sure you'll find a guy someday who'll love you for who you are, even if he's not Mario."

Daisy smiled at his rather cringy comment. "Aww, thanks Luigi! That's the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me."

"Heh... you're welcome!" he responded shyly.

"Well, anyway, I'd better get back to Peach. She's been waiting for me for ages. Bye!"

"Bye!"

"Oh, and Luigi?"

"Yeah?"

"How come you're all dressed up? Me, you and Peach are the only ones who actually bothered."

"Oh, yeah, about that..." His embarrassed demeanour returned. "Mamma thought me and Mario would love to be all dressed up for this party... Mario got away with it, but me... not so much. I... I didn't want to hurt her feelings, so... yeah."

She giggled as she headed back to Peach and said goodbye. Her spirits were lifted after their conversation. Luigi was so sweet! She considered him her best friend, after Peach of course.

"So, what happened?" she demanded impatiently.

"He's not interested."

"Really?"

"I swear, he doesn't like her at all. He looked _so_ uncomfortable."

"Phew... but he doesn't like me either. I asked Luigi."

"Oh gosh... well, at least he doesn't like Mimi!"

"True."

"Oh my gosh, Bowser came up to me while you were gone, and he asked me out again! And then I was like, no..."

* * *

Meanwhile, in the bathroom...

"Now girls, show me the pics!"

"Here."

Mimi smirked as she scrolled through them. "Ha! Hilarious! Well done girls! Or well done Pauline, I should say. Toadette, why didn't you do what I told you to do?"

"I don't think it's a nice thing to do..."

"Toadette, sometimes you really p*** me off! Live a little! It's only a little fun... Ooh, ooh, wait until you hear what we're going to do next!"

"But..."

"Ah, just shut up. Anyway, here's what we're doing! We're going to print these off, and we're going to make a little exhibition in the basement..."

The two girls gasped in horror, even Pauline, her most loyal ally.

"Aw c'mon, it'll be hilarious!"

Pauline spoke up first. "This is going too far, Mimi. I'm not... comfortable with this."

"Pauline's right, leave Daisy alone! Why are we even bullying her anyway?"

"Cos I said so, okay? And stop calling it bullying, cos it's not, not, _not_! For the gazillionth time! It's. Just. For. Fun. Got it?" finished Mimi with an intimidating glare.

Pauline relented. "Got it..."

However, Toadette was stronger than that. "Actually no, I don't get it! I refuse to take part in this."

Pauline looked at her in awe. Mimi also looked at her, but in a very different way to her dark haired ally.

"Oh yeah?"

"Y-yeah..."

There was an awful, awkward pause while Mimi thought of an answer. Then, "Well, good luck in finding a new friend group, honey. A nasty rumour might just slip out of my mouth and it might just be about you, okay? Now get out!"

Toadette felt rather shaky as she slammed the door. If Mimi was capable of humiliating Daisy in front of hundreds of people, what would she do to her?

Truth was, she liked Daisy. She was generally friendly and cheerful, and she hated mocking her. She always had to force a laugh around her so called friends, when in reality it was the last thing she felt like doing.

She went straight to her bedroom to calm her racing heart, but the worry persisted. She wondered if she should tell Daisy, but would Mimi make things worse for her if she did? And what if her parents found out what she'd been up to all year?

* * *

Peach noticed Toadette storming off without her friends, a frown etched on her round face.

" _I wonder what happened between those losers,_ " she thought. " _Probably had a bit of a tiff._ "

She quickly forgot about it and resumed her conversation with Daisy.

* * *

Pauline wasn't sure about this at all. It was funny at the start, but was it getting out of hand? After all, Daisy never did anything to them, she never even retaliated when they taunted her continually.

However, she didn't have the emotional strength to stand up to Mimi. She was having a tough time at home. Whenever her sister Daniella was at home she always played really mean pranks on her, which got Pauline into trouble. That was only the start of her problems. Her parents constantly bickered, they even slept in separate beds. She suspected that at this rate they would end up divorcing.

Of course, that didn't excuse what she was about to take part in. Mimi led the uncertain brunette to the study to print off the pictures. Pauline wasn't looking forward to this at all.

Then, they went into the basement.

"Pauline, do you have the tape?"

"Yeah..."

"Hand it over."

"Uhh? Oh yeah, sure." She stared at her feet, letting Mimi do all the work.

The blonde glared at her, tapping her foot. "Well? Too lazy to help, huh?"

"Um... no."

"Well get a move on then!"

She sighed. This was going to be a long night.

* * *

The kitchen was starting to get really crowed, Daisy couldn't help noticing. Must have been all the nice food. All the food she couldn't eat.

"Guys, guys!" shouted Mimi. Being the most popular girl in their year, everyone listened.

"Um, okay," she started with a sweet smile on her face.

Daisy wasn't fooled. It was hard to believe that such a cute person could have such a horrible personality.

"Well, you know how it's Easter an' all, and myself and Pauline decided to make an exposition to celebrate. Come on everyone, follow me!"

Peach turned to her friend. "I wonder what this is about."

"Yeah. Eh, let's just follow them. It's probably some stupid slideshow telling everyone how awesome they are."

A hundred people or so went down the stairs leading to the basement, and all were curious. Mimi whispered to Pauline, and she switched on the lights. Every person was shocked...

But none more than Daisy.

What she witnessed made her want to cry. And she hadn't cried since she was a young child.

Pictures of Daisy had been stuck onto the walls. To name a few, one was of her sweating in the P.E. hall, scarlet in the face, with a caption that read: "LOOKS LIKE A PIG, AND SMELLS LIKE ONE TOO!" Another one included the redhead biting into a large bar of chocolate, and this one said, "NO WONDER SHE'S SO FAT..."

Loud laughs, a few genuine but most uneasy, erupted from about half the people. And if they weren't laughing, they were smiling or smirking, maybe to please the popular girls... no. The bullies. They were bullies with a capital B. As far as she could see, Peach was the only one who didn't look in the least happy.

The laughs died down almost as immediately as they had begun, and Daisy got over the initial shock.

"Heh. At least this shows what kind of people you all are, huh?"

By now, most shifted uncomfortably, feeling bad. They didn't expect her to show them all up.

"Screw all of you."

Daisy turned her face to Pauline, white with anger, and kept her low, menacing tone.

"Screw you, too."

Finally she glared at Mimi with such hatred that even she was scared. She waited a moment, then exploded, making the others jump.

"And screw you, you f****** b****!"

She stormed out of the house, with a concerned Peach running after her. They sat on the pavement, and the latter waited until her friend's temper calmed. She knew from experience that this was the best way to deal with it.

Then, without looking at her, Daisy spoke in a trembly voice.

"I'm phoning Daddy."

The blonde nodded, and Daisy made her call quick. She shoved her phone back inside her pocket, and just then they heard footsteps.

"Luigi?" said Peach.

He stared at her for a moment, then focused on Daisy.

"Daisy, are you okay?"

Her eyebrows slanted downwards. "What do you want?"

"Huh?"

"You're a b******, you know that?"

"What...?"

Daisy stood up, starting to shout again. "I'll teach you to laugh at me! How dare you! How dare you how dare you how dare you!"

"Stop it Daisy," scolded Peach. The redhead was pounding her fists on Luigi's chest, and she had to pull her away from him as she struggled.

"He's a liar! He said he's my friend but he's not! He laughed at me Peach. He laughed at me! I'm not letting him get away with this!"

Luigi had tears in his eyes. "But I didn't..."

"Go. Just go, okay?"

Thankfully, Peach stuck up for him. "Daisy, stop and listen to what he has to say! He's a nice guy, he's not a liar!"

Luigi blushed at the praise. It was weird how Peach could pull off a daft costume so well. She looked so cute in the dark... " _No! This isn't the time to be thinking about Peach! This is about Daisy!_ " he said sternly to himself.

Both waited with baited breaths as Daisy was silent. This could go either way... Fortunately, she slumped her shoulders and her voice was calmer.

"You're right. Luigi... I'm sorry for calling you a liar. I didn't mean to lash out at you like that. But... promise you didn't laugh?"

"Cross my heart and hope to die."

"Hmm. I believe you, Luigi. I'm so sorry..."

He cut her off. "Leave it, it's fine."

Peach saw the car. "There's your dad. So, are you going to tell him?"

"No!"

Her friends frowned.

"Not now. I'll tell them when I'm ready, okay?"

They reluctantly nodded as they entered the orange limousine.

"Hey Daddy, is it okay if my friends come over for a while?"

"Yeah, sure!"

Luigi took out his phone and texted his parents to let them know where he was. Daddy started to speak.

"So, Daisy, what happened, huh?"

"Uhh... I just feel a little sick from all the food... Oh yeah, I forgot to introduce you to my friend. Daddy, this is Luigi."

"Nice to meet you, Luigi."

"Nice to meet you too, Mr Rose."

"Oh please don't call me Mr Rose, it sounds so feminine! Just call me Rick."

"Okay... Rick."

Rick smiled and turned around, winking at him and his daughter. "So you say you're friends? Are you sure you're not anything more?"

Luigi blushed to the roots of his hair. Why did everyone always get the wrong idea? While he was mortified, Daisy smiled slightly.

"No, Daddy, we're just friends."

"Hmm. So, about the food... are you sure that's what's wrong? You look upset..."

"Nope, just ate too much."

He left it at that. He arrived at the house, and Luigi was dumbfounded at the size of the mansion.

"Cool, huh?" Daisy smiled weakly.

"Mamma mia..."

"Oh, and see that white mansion over there? That's Peach's."

The blonde nodded in confirmation.

" _Now I know where Peach lives,_ " he thought, immediately feeling like a stalker.

They entered Daisy's place and followed her up the spiral staircase and into her study.

"Okay Luigi, so this is my study, don't think you've seen it before... not that I use it that much, since I hate schoolwork."

"It's nice. Wow, it's hot in here. I think I'll take my costume off," he commented, starting to unzip it.

The girls gave him weird looks.

"I have clothes underneath," he explained, red faced, and Peach and Daisy visibly relaxed.

"Anyway, let's talk about what happened," said the blonde.

The redhead sighed heavily. "Like, it wasn't really the pictures that upset me, it was the fact that they've been planning this for a while and I was too stupid to see it. I should have listened to you Peach. I should have told Mr Toadsworth before it got out of hand. This is all my fault and I'm so sorry."

"No, no! It's not your fault!" exclaimed Luigi. "Heck, I'd be afraid too!"

Then again, he was afraid of everything.

"I guess... I guess I thought it'd stop someday."

"Well I don't want to say I told you so, but I did say that it only gets better when you tell..."

Daisy sighed while Peach continued.

"But now's your chance to tell. There's no excuse anymore not to. And Luigi and I will help you. So, what do you think? Deal?"

"Okay, it's a deal... But Peach?"

"Yeah?"

"Quick question: why wasn't Toadette there?"

"Well I did see the three of them go into the bathroom, and Toadette left on her own. She looked kind of mad."

"What a coward. She probably didn't want to be there in case she got into trouble. Anyway, does it really matter?"

The three some sat in silence, contemplating on what had just happened.

* * *

 **So, what did you think of this? Oh, I've literally just watched the ending to Odyssey... let's just say I want to cry. Whether it's from sadness or happiness or laughter... you're gonna have to watch it yourselves and see! I'm not spoiling it for anyone.**


	13. Will it be Sorted?

**Hi everyone! I'm now able to post chapters as normal, but I'm a bit busy, so I may or may not be able to update as regularly. Like I said I won't be PMing anymore, so I'll answer the reviews here instead.**

 **Yoshi With A Moustache:** **So so glad you liked this! Thanks for the review!**

 **Mariocest:** **Yeah, while the ending was quite humorous I was also disappointed. I felt that it was poorly handled. The cutscene itself was funny, it just didn't work as an ending, in my opinion. I guess I wanted more than I should have expected from Nintendo, if you get what I mean (don't want to spoil it for anyone). Here's the new chapter and thanks for the reviews!**

 **miscellaneous:** **Nice! Are you going to publish your fic? Thanks for the review!**

 **I want to thank Yoshi With A Moustache for favouriting and Mariocest for following this story!**

 **Disclaimer: All characters are owned by Nintendo.**

 **And by the way... I'm sorry if Paper is a really weird surname! You'll see what I mean when you read this.**

* * *

Daisy, Luigi and Peach headed for the principal's office straight after the holidays.

"What if they don't believe us?" fretted Daisy.

"Yeah?" agreed Luigi.

"Don't worry! Mr Toadsworth's our granduncle. He'll definitely believe us."

Peach rapped on the door.

"Come in!"

The trio entered.

"Sit down."

Mr Toadsworth finished writing before turning to them. "You may speak now."

Luigi and Peach turned to Daisy, who gulped with nervousness.

"Um... I've been having problems with a few people in my year, and..."

"She's being bullied," interrupted Peach, "by Mimi Paper, Pauline McKenzie and Toadette Mushroom."

"Hmm. This is very serious, Miss Daisy. Kindly elaborate on the case."

"Umm... they laugh at me all the time and make fun of my weight and uh, two um weeks ago, I-I found out that they were taking pictures of me all along and they stuck them in Toadette's basement at a party and everyone saw and... yeah. It's worse than it sounds," she finished lamely.

"Quite right, Miss Daisy. We take any form of bullying very seriously in this school, and it must be stopped immediately. Miss Peach, Master Luigi, the bell has just rung so you may go to your classes now."

The redhead closed her eyes in misery. Without her friends, she'd surely collapse.

* * *

Pauline had just gotten out her maths books for class, and she was trying very hard to forget what her mother had told her. She was having an affair, and the girl was not allowed, under any circumstances, to tell anyone, lest it got back to Dad. She felt burdened, why did Mom have to entrust her with such a secret? She was so disturbed by the events that for once, she hadn't bothered to brush her hair or put on her make-up (though the latter was against the rules anyway).

Mimi passed a note to the brunette, with Toadette written on it. She gave it to her, and wondered what Mimi had written to make her frown so.

Suddenly, everyone looked up as the door knocked, followed by a "Come in!" by Miss Kersti and Peach and Luigi entering the classroom.

"Why are you late for class?" she snapped.

Luigi blushed nervously, while Peach explained. "We were in Mr Toadsworth's office, miss."

"Hmm. I hope you weren't in trouble."

Everyone laughed. Peach and Luigi in trouble? Impossible! The sniggers soon died down when the teacher glared at them. Oh, so it wasn't a joke. They should have known she wasn't the humourous type.

"No miss."

They went to their seats, and almost immediately afterwards a message was called out through the intercom.

"Could Pauline McKenzie, Toadette Mushroom and Mimi Paper come to my office now please."

Pauline wasn't as stupid as she liked to make out. She got better grades than anyone would have expected of her, and she could read people like a book. This time was no exception. She put two and two together, and the answer equalled big trouble and possibly a suspension.

Toadette and Mimi also guessed what was happening. The former felt sick with fear, but she didn't blame Daisy for telling on them. Meanwhile, Mimi smirked confidently. She knew exactly how to get out of this one, just as she'd done her whole life.

As the three walked out, everyone was staring at them. Still Mimi kept up her confident demeanour. When they'd closed the door behind them, she looked at the other two viciously.

"You tell Mr Toadsworth the truth, and I'll make you pay. Got it?"

Pauline nodded, but Toadette shook her head, tears welling in her eyes. "No!"

She shrugged. "Suit yourself. But don't say I didn't warn you, honey."

She swallowed, but mentally stuck to her word.

Mimi knocked on the office door, and waited for his reply. When he called out to them, they went in to see the principal eyeing them sternly and a pale-faced Daisy.

"Sit down, girls."

There weren't enough seats for everyone, so Toadette was left standing awkwardly on her own.

Mr Toadsworth turned to the pig-tailed girl first. "Miss Toadette, I'm sure you'll know what I'm talking about when I tell you that Miss Daisy was being bullied by yourself and your friends."

"Y-yes, sir."

"So could you please tell me all about it, from start to finish."

Toadette hesitated. Then, "I'm going to be a hundred percent honest, sir. But... I don't really want to tell tales..."

Pauline started to sweat visibly, Daisy felt a mix of relief and panic and Mimi frowned slightly.

"This isn't telling tales, Miss Toadette. It's important that you tell me everything, and I want names too!"

"Oh... okay sir. Um, so it all started on the first day, when Mimi became friends with myself and Pauline. I kind of knew she was a little... mean, and I wish I'd never spoken to her."

Here, Mimi faked a sob, causing everyone to look at her. Toadette knew it was all pretence, and her voice became shakier as she continued.

"Anyway, I forget how it happened, but somehow we ended up mocking Daisy. Mimi forced us, but I guess we didn't have to do it. Anyway, at some stage she told us to take pictures of her, like embarrassing ones, an' I didn't take them, but Pauline and Mimi did, and then at my Easter party Mimi asked for pictures but I didn't have them, and now she's gonna spread rumours about me! Pauline did it but I don't think she wanted to, and then they printed them off and stuck them in my basement, and everyone saw, and they all laughed, and I'm so sorry for bullying Daisy Mr Toadsworth, honest, she didn't deserve what we did to her, but please sir, I swear I wasn't involved with the pictures!"

And with that, the unfortunate Toadette burst into tears, while Toadsworth adjusted his glasses.

"Ahem. So, you say you weren't involved in the Easter party incident."

"I wasn't sir, I swear!"

"And you say that because of this, Miss Mimi threatened to spread rumours about you."

"Oh yes sir, she did!"

"Hmm. So, Miss Pauline. As you already know, our school does not tolerate bullying of any kind. I made that clear on the very first day. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. That's what I like to her. That said, I'd like you to explain what Miss Daisy, two witnesses and Miss Toadette have told me."

Pauline gulped and said nothing.

"So? Do you have an explanation?"

The sobbing Mimi kicked her leg lightly under the table as a warning.

"I-it's not true sir. None of it is true."

"No? So you say Miss Toadette is lying?"

"Y-y-yeah, sir..."

"Hmm. So... what is the real story?"

Mimi now had tears streaming down her cheeks as she interrupted Pauline. "Ooh, Mr Toadsworth, Daisy took it up the wrong way!"

"Miss Mimi, I really can't have you interrupting..."

"But it's not fair! Toadette is backstabbing me cos we had a fight last week! I swear, I only called Daisy fatty once and I apologised! I didn't do it again! And the pictures, that was all Toadette's idea! It's her you should be punishing, not me and Pauline!"

Daisy scowled fiercely. "That's not true, sir. She's been calling me fat all frigging year and I'm f***ing sick of it!"

"Miss Daisy, I will not tolerate swearing!"

"But you will tolerate lies? C'mon sir, I mean look at her! She is a bully and I hope she gets expelled!"

Mimi stood up to face her victim. "No, Daisy. You're the liar. You and Toadette." Then, to the principal, "I swear on my life sir, I would never do that to anyone, even ask Pauline!"

Her ally nodded with conviction.

He regarded her suspiciously, but fell for her cute face and pleading eyes. "I apologise, Miss Mimi. You and Pauline may go back to class now."

"Oh thank you, thank you sir..."

Pauline felt terrible. What had she done? Mimi, on the other hand, smirked triumphantly as she walked out. She always got her own way in the end. Though she wasn't sure if she'd really carry out her threats towards Toadette. Would that be asking for trouble? Eh, even if she didn't, it would serve her right to be afraid for a while.

Meanwhile, Toadsworth's face went red with anger as he glared at the remaining students.

"Miss Toadette! What on earth made you do such a thing, tell such lies? You know what they say, revenge is a dish best served cold. Detention for the rest of the week."

She cried even more. Life was so unfair!

Then he spoke to Daisy. "And Miss Daisy. I'm afraid this is a big, big misunderstanding."

"But sir, I..."

"So you insist that you are right?"

"Yes!"

"Well then. Do you have any proof? Can you prove that what you have told me is accurate?"

"Uhh, but it's true..."

"I am very sorry, but if there's no proof that your story is accurate, I'm afraid there's nothing else I can do but assume that Miss Mimi and Miss Pauline are in the right. Miss Toadette is the only guilty student here."

The redhead looked at the principal in disbelief. So this was it? It was Mimi who should have gotten into the most trouble! She was the ringmaster! Toadette was actually the least guilty! She wasn't even that worried about her!

"I'm sorry, Miss Daisy."

"Please sir, surely if two people are telling the same story, then it must..."

"Miss Daisy, enough. You will not get detention as your misunderstanding was unintentional, but I'm afraid this is my final decision. You may go back to class now."

She felt dizzy as she left the room. So, this was it. Nothing sorted, back to square one. If anything it was going to get worse, because now Mimi knew she had told.

It probably didn't help that she'd sworn and given cheek. But still... ugh!

" _Stupid Mr Toadsworth,_ " she thought angrily.

* * *

"Are you actually serious?" Peach practically screamed in Daisy's ear at recess.

"No joke."

"But... I don't understand," said the puzzled Luigi. "Why... I thought, quote unquote, that this school takes bullying seriously."

"Apparently they don't. If they did, they'd have helped me out by now."

"Mr Toadsworth only got the job cos he's a Toadstool," revealed the furious Peach. "That's what Mama said. He obviously doesn't deserve it. He's a crappy principal! And indirectly, he's called me and you, members of his own family, liars."

"So what do we do now?"

"I don't know. But we'll figure something out. I promise."

* * *

 **Hope you liked this! And tell me if you thought it was unrealistic. Believe me, this is much better than the original chapter I'd written. You should have seen it, it was horrible. I kept most of it in this one, just the way I wrote it improved dramatically. Sorry if it's still not that good; I'm just saying that it's much better than the original. Oh, and there was also another part at the end, but I'm keeping it for next time. Why? This chapter was long and the next one was short and a bit devoid of interesting plot, so now it's a bit more balanced out. And you probably don't, but remember when I said I'd show Toadsworth's incompetence later on? Well here it is.**


	14. Advice

**Hi! So this chapter takes place on the same day as the last one. Enjoy! Oh, I only noticed now, but in the last chapter I made a mistake and said that all make up is banned: actually, it's allowed but just in moderation. Nobody probably noticed and if you did you probably didn't care, it's just that it annoyed me a little and I thought I'd clarify.**

 **Ice Flower 24:** **Yeah, a lot of the times telling a teacher works, but sadly it's not uncommon for it to go horribly wrong. And in response to your second review, don't even get me started on the ending of an otherwise great game. I'm trying to see the humorous side of it, and I might even write a fic about it, so some good came out of it, but still. Anyway, thanks for the review!**

 **JustTheClassicalGirl:** **Yeah, possibly one of the most dramatic parts of the story. Thanks for reviewing!**

 **HamatsuSuperKai:** **I'm sorry, but I don't think I'd be up for writing it. It's a good idea though, why don't you try writing it yourself?**

 **Thanks to Ice Flower 24 for favouriting and following my story!**

 **Disclaimer: The characters and the game Wii Sports belong to Nintendo.**

* * *

Daisy went to Peach's house that evening. They played Wii Sports in silence, each contemplating on the disastrous events of that day.

"I still can't believe what happened," said Daisy, finally speaking as she idly swung her Wii remote.

"Neither can I, Daisy. He wasn't kidding when he said he wouldn't play favourites with us. Have you told your parents yet?"

"No, I'm not gonna bother. It doesn't really matter if I tell them or not, does it? It's not like I've proof, as _he_ likes to call it."

"Yeah, that's true I guess. Which sport do you want to play next?"

"Tennis."

Peach selected the game, and after a few minutes of playing she looked at her cousin.

"What?" said the redhead.

"I think I know exactly what you should do next."

"And what's that?"

"Beat Mimi."

"What?"

Peach hoped that her advice wouldn't hurt her friend's feelings, but Daisy could be quite pig-headed, so she knew she might have to be brutally honest. Besides, nothing she said could offend her more than Mimi already had.

"Beat her at her own game. She calls you fat? Lose weight. She calls you ugly? Make yourself beautiful. Don't let her win."

"Aww, Peach! I'm useless at sports! And I think we all know at this stage that I'll never be beautiful. I'll never be like you, Peach. You're pretty, you've a nice figure, boys like you."

"Correction: _Bowser_ likes me. It's not something I'm proud to admit."

"You get the point! Boy, I wish someone liked me, even if it was Bowser!"

"We're getting off topic here, Daisy. And don't be stupid. You could be pretty if you tried harder."

"You sound like my mom!"

"I'm trying to help here!"

"Okay, okay... So um, how am I supposed to lose weight?"

"Maybe if you did some real sport instead of Wii Sports, and cut down on the junk food."

"Ugh, too much work."

"Well, you wanted advice and I'm giving it to you."

Daisy relented. "So when do I start?"

"I'll sign you up for my basketball and tennis clubs tomorrow. And remember, this isn't just to lose weight, cos you're not fat anyway, you're just a little unfit. It's also to gain confidence. Actually, that should be your main goal."

"Yeah. I guess you're right."

* * *

Daisy went to school the next day with a brand new attitude to life. She hadn't even started doing sport yet, but she knew that with enough practise, she could get the confidence she needed.

Her spirits lowered, however, when she saw Mimi, who was approaching her as she got her books from her locker. Still, she looked her in the eye, hoping to show her that she wouldn't be intimidated by her this time.

"Hey Daisy," she said in a mocking tone.

"What do you want?"

The blonde was unfazed. "So, you all told on me, huh?"

"I had to tell!"

"Aw come on, you knew it was a joke! And that's all it was: a joke. Not my problem if you're sensitive."

"It was a joke, yeah."

This new Daisy was scaring Mimi a little. She was supposed to blush and look down, not stand up to her!

"Well... I wouldn't do it again if I were you. I could ruin Luigi's... and Peach's... and most importantly, _your_ reputation. Got it?"

"Ha, I won't need to do it again. You won't put me down anymore, Mimi Paper, got it?" She put her face close to her bully's. "Got it?"

Mimi sneered in her face, her slight fear gone after the initial shock. "Ha! We'll see about that!" And with that she stormed off, not pleased with the outcome of their talk.

Daisy felt almost euphoric after the incident. Unbelievable... she was no longer afraid of the bully, not really anyway. They were empty threats, she knew. She'd only said that because she was out of comebacks. It was strange how before she made her feel so small, even though the redhead was the taller of the two. Now, her new found confidence was helping her to stick up for herself.

* * *

The following week, she had basketball on that evening, and she went to Peach's mansion so they could go together.

"Will they laugh at me?" she asked, glancing at her legs and the way her stomach protruded from under her top. This was like being in P.E. all over again!

"No, you'll be fine! No one's going to look at you! This isn't really a serious club, it's just for fun."

"Okay, if you say so."

Peach's mother drove them to the club and told them to have a good time. Daisy was extremely nervous as she looked at all the other girls. Most looked so fit, she felt so out of place... Peach, supportive as always, gave her arm a quick squeeze.

As they went into the basketball court, the trainer, Julie, blew the whistle. She wasn't one for small talk, and barely acknowledged the redhead, though of course she knew there was going to be a new person in the club.

Peach nudged her friend. "Come on Daisy!"

"I can't do this, they're all gonna laugh at me..."

"Just try. Come on!"

They started playing, and within a few minutes she started panting as she ran across the court. She was useless at this! It was so hard to get the ball off her opponents, she even tripped over her own feet at one stage! How embarrassing... Mimi's bullying was almost more endurable than this! Why had she agreed to do this? Well, she liked to think she was optimistic, so at least Peach was there with her...? Not much of a comfort, but it was something.

At the break, she was so out of breath that she was hardly able to speak to Peach.

"So? What did you think?"

"Are... you... freaking... kidding me? Does it look like... I enjoyed it... or something? I mean... look at me! This is exactly why I got... bullied! Cos I was... unfit and... always looked horrible... after P.E. You sure... this is gonna help me?"

"Relax! You just need practise. You should have seen me when I started!"

"Yeah, but at least you were... skinny, you didn't have to worry about everyone... laughing at... you."

"Daisy, nobody's laughing at you! Nobody cares what you look like! They'll only care if you have a bad attitude and stop trying, and you're going to keep trying, aren't you?"

She sighed. "Eh... if you want."

"No Daisy. I don't want you to do it for me, I want you to do it for yourself. Just try it for a few weeks and see how it goes. If you don't like it, you're free to drop out. Actually, you're free to drop out anytime. I'm not forcing you into this. And besides, you're not even fat. I know lots of girls who are bigger than you. But it's actually important that you get fit anyway, regardless of what you look like. So stop worrying about your weight and people laughing at you. Trust me, they don't care."

"Hmmm... maybe you're right. I said maybe."

"So? You're giving it a try?"

"Umm... yeah."

"Great!" Peach hugged her cousin, and the whistle blew. Daisy's current feeling of pessimism returned, but she tried to ignore it and listen to what Peach had told her. She tried a little harder, but to no avail. Maybe one day she'd improve? Hopefully. One thing was for sure, her muscles were going to hurt horribly the next day.

* * *

As predicted, Daisy could hardly move her legs. As soon as she got to school, she gave out to her best friend.

"This sucks. I can't believe you made me do this."

"Okay, first off, you chose to do it. For the fiftieth time, nobody's forcing you to do sport. And second, it's for your own good."

"You do realise how sore my legs are?"

"Oh? That's a good sign, it means it's working! You must have tried hard..."

The redhead gave her a sceptical look. "This had better be worth it, Peach."

"Trust me, it will. If nothing else, it'll build up your confidence."

"What's the point in being confident if I can't even walk?"

Peach slapped her forehead and chose to stay silent. Only time would tell whether her rather stubborn friend would stick to this.

* * *

 **I lengthened this considerably from the original chapter. I know nothing about basketball, so hopefully I made no mistakes. And by the way, always always ALWAYS tell your parents if you're being bullied. Please. Don't keep it in like Daisy did. I only did that because it's actually important to the plot, more so than it seems at the moment. Please review!**


	15. Brotherly Hate and Brotherly Love

**Hi! I've written way too much about Daisy in the past three chapters, so although she's referenced this one focuses on something else. I don't know if anyone noticed, but I deleted the first chapter. It had important info on it, but it was a list chapter which isn't allowed. I'm a little upset of course, but I'd be more upset if this got reported and the whole FIC got deleted and I'm sorry for any inconvenience. I did read the rules but I honestly thought it applied to stories as a whole and I guess it's my fault for misinterpreting the rules, so I brought this on myself. Only thing is, I've referenced the first chapter in later A/N's, so now things I said will sound odd and there may be confusion for any future readers, heh heh!**

 **W.D.** **Guest-er** **: No, I don't think I'll be doing collabs anytime soon! Thanks for the review!**

 **Venomheart the Dreamer:** **Sorry, I didn't know that. Well, I knew list stories weren't allowed, but I didn't know that applied to single chapters also. It's deleted and thanks for telling me first.**

 **Thanks to Destine Star for following this fic!**

 **Disclaimer: All characters are owned by Nintendo.**

* * *

"Yeah, true. So, did you study for the test today?"

"Yeah, but I don't think I did that well in it."

"I'm sure you did. Me... I think I failed."

Mario waited for Luigi to express his opinions on the geography test, but his twin remained silent. Lately, he didn't speak that much to himself or his friends, but Mario had been too busy to notice since he was studying for a number of different tests, so he wouldn't fail again. However, come to think of it, Luigi seemed almost... unfriendly. But why?

He eyed him again, then spoke. "Sorry guys... would you mind giving myself and Luigi a moment?"

Luigi frowned a little, and so did his buddies, but the guy in green got up and followed his brother.

"Let's walk around the school."

Luigi nodded, and put his hands in his pockets, scowling a little. Mario wasn't sure what to do; eventually, he just came out with it.

"Bro, what's up with you lately?"

His scowl deepened.

"Luigi?"

"You know what's up."

"What? No, I don't!"

"Hmm."

"Just tell me what's wrong!"

He stared straight ahead as he answered Mario's question. "You... you laughed at Daisy at the party, didn't you. You and Toad and Yoshi and Wario. Don't deny it. I saw you."

"What? Aw c'mon, you know that..."

"That's just sad, Mario. You don't laugh at people when they're obviously upset."

"Please Luigi, the whole place was laughing at her, except for you and perhaps Peach! I... I only did it because everyone else was doing it..." Even as he said it, he knew his excuse was lame. He hadn't realised it, but now he felt a twinge of guilt. Laughing at someone who was obviously being bullied wasn't cool at all.

"So if they told you jump off a cliff, you'd do it?"

"No Mama Luigi, I wouldn't. Besides, I didn't exactly laugh, it was just... a smile, yeah, it was just a smile, so... yeah."

Mario had cracked a joke to lighten the mood. He thought back on his days in second grade, when they were role-playing in class. Yoshi and Luigi were put in a team, and for reasons unknown, the former pretended to be a baby dinosaur, and Luigi was his mother who'd been the first to find him after he hatched. The events were muddled, but the nickname "Mama Luigi" stuck with him. Now, that was what he called his brother when he acted too mature.

Luigi shook his head in disgust. "Just shut up, Mario."

"Ah Luigi, no..."

"Just shut up. And that joke's so old now."

"I-I didn't mean it, okay? I'm sorry Luigi, I'm sorry I laughed at your best friend... or is she your girlfriend?"

"Not funny, Mario."

Mario sighed. Twice he'd tried to be funny and it only resulted in making the atmosphere even more tense. But he decided to give it one more try.

"So, do you forgive me? Pretty please?" he begged with an exaggerated pout.

Luigi gave him a death stare, but after a few seconds he couldn't keep his smile in anymore.

"Heh, you got me."

The brother hugged each other quickly as they made up their feud.

"So, Luigi. Do you still like Peach?"

"Why do you ask?" he replied, blushing.

"Just wondering. You're hanging out with her and Daisy a lot lately."

"Hmm."

"So I'll take that as a yes?"

"I guess."

"And do you talk to her?"

"Eh... not that much. Unless she talks to me first."

"Aww, Luigi!"

"I'm not you, Mario. I'm not good with the ladies."

The modd was becoming hostile again, so Mario stopped pestering him.

"Anyway, I hope she likes you back someday."

"Doubt it... just... don't tell her, okay?"

"Me? Tell her?" said Mario innocently, pretending to be hurt.

"You know what I mean."

"No, I'd never tell!"

"Hmm. Remember in fourth grade when I liked Eclair? You literally told everyone."

"What? No I didn't!"

"You basically did. You'd laugh and punch me in the arm and say "Look who's here, Luigi!" whenever we saw her."

"I'm more mature this year, though."

"Sure!"

"What? I am."

"I'm called Mama Luigi for a reason. I don't hear anyone calling you Mama Mario!"

The two brothers laughed. They joked around for a little while longer, until they heard footsteps behind them. Curious, they turned their heads, and the group that was casually strolling behind made Mario narrow his eyes and Luigi panic slightly.

Bowser, Goomba, Koopa Troopa, Dry Bones and Boo, all smirking, all ready for a fight.

"Mario," said the redheaded bully with a sneer, causing the others to snicker. "Long time no see."

"What do you want now?" asked the guy in red.

"What do I want?" He walked closer and closer to Mario and bent down to his height til their faces were practically touching, a fire in his green eyes. "Whad'ya think?"

Mario returned his glare. "You wanna fight?"

"Heh. Whad'ya think, huh?"

"M-Mario..." stammered Luigi.

Bowser turned his head. "You have anything to say? Who even are you, wuss?"

"Um..."

Bowser stared at him for a few moments. He'd definitely seen him before, but where? He normally didn't recognise people's faces unless they were victims of his bullying, or if they meant anything to him. But he was sure there was no reason to remember this guy...

Then it clicked. Of course. He was the twerp who hung out with Peach and that other girl. It was obvious he had a thing for the blonde. He wasn't technically a threat, because he knew - or rather, he believed - that he was more awesome than the guy in green, who was way too wimpy for someone like his crush. But still, while he was at it, he may as well finish both brothers off. Better be safe than sorry. If they were even related... but he assumed they were, since they looked kind of alike.

Without warning he swung his fist back and landed a punch right on Luigi's nose, making it bleed. Luigi, shocked, put a hand to his face and was startled to see that it was stained red. He shivered a little. He always felt faint at the sight of blood.

"That'll teach you..." he muttered, preparing himself for a fight.

"W-what do you mean..." asked Luigi. Bowser had a bad reputation, and he avoided him like the Plague, especially since the time he'd randomly punched Mario. But he'd never really known how bad the bully could be.

Well, he knew now.

Mario growled with anger, staring at his rival.

" _Nobody_ messes with my bro."

Bowser chuckled as he shifted his attention to the guy in red. "Oh yeah? Wanna watch me mess with your wimpy brother?"

"We'll see about that, Bowser Koopa!"

Within seconds the pair were on the ground fighting, much to Luigi's horror and the others' delight. Wow, Bowser was really stepping up his game. Before, future fights with Mario was something that was only spoken, not actually done.

They could only watch as they fought and fought. He wasn't sure if it was cowardice or intuition or maybe a bit of both, but Luigi supposed that it was pointless trying to break up the brawl. He knew his brother would be okay, anyway. It already looked as if the short, tubby teenager would come out on top. It was true what they said, looks really could be deceptive.

Sure enough, Bowser couldn't take the pain anymore as Mario had the last laugh.

"See, Bowser? I told you. Nobody messes with my bro. Not even you."

"Shut... up..."

Even his so-called allies were mocking him.

"Mario's a legend!"

"Ha, it sucks to be you right now, Bowser!"

"Just... shut... up..."

Both brothers took pity on the exhausted redhead. After all, "Mr Tough Guy" had been humiliated yet again by someone half his size. "Need help?" asked Mario as they held out their hands.

"No! Now leave me... alone..."

"Suit yourself."

Mario and Luigi walked off, both a little confused.

"Thanks for sticking up for me, bro. I... I really appreciate it. And... I'm sorry I didn't do anything to help you, I guess I..."

"No, no, it's fine. See? But... geez, what brought that on?"

"Yeah..."

"Who knows. Anyway, you'd better get yourself cleaned up Luigi, you don't look too good."

"Yep. It's kinda starting to hurt now..."

* * *

 **This came out way better than the original version. Well, every single chapter you've read so far is better than the original! I changed a few of them more radically than others, though. What I mean is, while in some chapters I only changed a couple of words, in others I completely rewrote them, like this one. Hopefully you all though the fight scene was okay, it's not really my strong point which is why I focused a little more on the characters' emotions. Well, that's it. Just a couple more chapters to go and the fic's finished, though of course there'll be four sequels, so this is far from being the end! Please leave a review and tell me what you think, I really appreciate all the feedback!**


	16. All For Sixty Dollars

**Hi! Yay, this fic reached fifty reviews! Hope you like this chapter!**

 **PilotFlame: Wow, thanks for all the suggestions! I've more or less written all five stories in this series, and I can tell you that Rosalina will be a new student at some stage (though not in this one). The Hammer Bro and the Bullet Bill ideas... I'm not sure if I'd be able to fit those in (though it'd be pretty hilarious!). But the food fight... whoa, you've no idea how much I needed that. You see, I've been having a little trouble - this chapter and the next (which was going to be the last one) transitioned awkwardly, if you get what I'm saying. And... the food fight is perfect, it's just what I needed to fill up the awkwardness! It's lighthearted and it'll add something nice to the fic. I'll be sure to credit you in the next A/N and thank you so, so much!**

 **JustTheClassicalGirl: I never noticed that before, but it really is like "Oh Brother"! And yeah, it does feel like this fic finished quickly (though there's still two more chapters), but actually, this has been on the site since the end of July! Maybe it's because I update quite quickly (I try to get it to about once a week). Time flies... Anyway, thanks for the review!**

 **Guy Fieri:** **Eh... you see, maybe I didn't mention it in the last chapter, but the fight took place at the back of the school. And since I'm mentally basing it a little on my old secondary school, there, the back of the building was where people didn't really hang out, and the teachers just never seemed to be there. I'm not trying to excuse my mistake: it was pretty careless of me not to write that. I'll try and rectify that in this chapter where they comment that they're lucky it happened at the back of the school, else they'd have been caught. Anyway, many thanks for your feedback! And thanks for reading!**

 **Yoshi with a Moustache:** **Yeah, I wanted to give Daisy confidence, like in the games. And Yoshi will be developed throughout part of the series, though not in this fic, but it might be a bit controversial, so I hope people take it well and I don't get hate for it (better not say anymore or the story will be spoiled!). Thanks for the reviews!**

 **Loud Nigrah: Thanks for reading!**

 **Patrick Star: Thanks for reading!**

 **Thanks to EvilSithlord11 for following and favouriting!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything belonging to Nintendo.**

* * *

Waluigi crept into his parents' room that morning. He searched for his father's wallet; it was on top of his bedside table, as usual. He took sixty dollars, and chuckled quietly to himself.

" _Hehehe,_ " he thought. " _Let's see if Wario can resist this!_ "

Waluigi quite liked the way he could "buy" a friend, an accomplice who'd help him with his schemes. He laughed again. Luigi would never speak to Wario again after this, and he'd have such fun playing pranks on him with his future buddy!

He had a smirk plastered on his face as he got on the school bus, and it only widened when he saw Wario on his own. How convenient! Things were going really well so far!

"Hey, Wario. How's things?"

"Good."

"Hmm. So, I was just thinking..."

"Um... I hope you're not asking me to do something mean to Luigi again. I dunno about all of this, I mean you're fun an' all, but... I don't think it's that funny anymore. I mean, he's my cousin, and we've been friends for years, so... yeah."

"Well, as a matter of fact, I am."

Wario sighed heavily. "Well Waluigi, I don't think the money is worth losing my _real_ friends. Like I said you're hilarious, but it's just... I think we're going too far with this."

The guy in purple was becoming as uneasy as Wario, but for an entirely different reason. While the yellow clothed teenager was worried that they were being jerks, Waluigi simply didn't like the way this conversation was going. Still, he kept his cool.

"Well I was going to give you _sixty dollars_ for this task, but I suppose, since you don't wanna do it I'd better keep it for myself..."

"W-wait... what is this task?"

He smirked. "I'll pay you sixty dollars to only be friends with me. Not Luigi, or Mario, or Yoshi, or Toad. Me."

Wario was visibly sweating. "I... no... I can't do that!"

"No? I have the money with me, but if that's what you want, then I guess I can't give it to you, eh?"

"Aww, okay... what do I have to do?"

"Have a fight with them. Simple. Imagine, sixty dollars just to have a fight. At least I'm nice enough to give you that much money, because we're best buddies, aren't we Wario?"

"I guess, but why do I have to stop being friends with the others?"

"Well, this is all to get back at Luigi, but you can't be friends with the others if you're not friends with Luigi. It just... doesn't make sense. You get what I mean?"

"Kind of."

"So, what do you say? Deal?"

"Yeah."

The bell then rang, and everyone headed for their classrooms. While most were tired and looked like they needed sleep, Wario was fully awake. He was unsure of how to go about it. How could he start a fight? He thought of everything that Waluigi had done. Maybe he could tell them it was he who had sabotaged Luigi's test, he who had sent the card. Genius!

At recess, he found his friends by Luigi's locker. " _Or should I say enemies,_ " he thought sadly. For a moment he wanted to abandon the plan, refuse the money, keep his real buddies. But sixty dollars... Once again, his greedy nature won.

He watched as they spoke to each other.

"Hey, Luigi, weren't we so lucky though?"

"Yeah, I mean, if he hadn't been at the back of the school, we'd have been caught by a teacher for sure!"

Wario took a few steps forward and tapped Yoshi and Toad on the shoulder, and everyone turned to him.

"Hey Wario. Wassup?"

"Um, hey... guys? I... I have something to tell you."

"What is it?" questioned Mario.

He took a deep breath and smirked. "Well... you know Luigi's test, you know, the one he almost got a C in."

"Yeah?"

"I... I did it. I helped Waluigi sabotage it for him."

Wario watched as their concern rapidly turned into disgust.

"You... did it," muttered Luigi incredulously.

"Uh... yeah..." Wario's confidence disappeared, and he was very afraid that Luigi would cry, like he always did. But he still kept up the act.

"And... there's more. That Valentine's card, the one about Peach, that was me too. And... a-and I don't care what you think of me, cos... Waluigi's my friend now... so... yeah."

After a long, awkward pause, Luigi shouted, making everyone around them jump and a few uninvolved people to stare.

"You b******!"

Wario was shocked at his use of colourful language, as were the others. His quiet cousin didn't normally swear.

"You know how important test results are to me! You know that I don't want Peach to know I like her! What the heck Wario?"

"Luigi's right. You are a b******," intervened Mario.

Toad and Yoshi also rushed to Luigi's defence.

"Not cool Wario. Not cool."

"I knew something like this would happen. You were with Waluigi for too long."

Wario laughed at them, even though he didn't really feel like it. "Well guys, I just wanted to come clean before I left your group. I've chosen Waluigi now, so you can go screw yourselves."

He walked away from the others, and joined Waluigi at the loner's table.

"So? How did it go?"

"It went okay. Where's my money?"

"No no, tell me what you did first."

"I told them that we were the ones who pranked Luigi. Genius, huh?"

Waluigi's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You what?"

"You told me to fight with them, and I have. Now give me my money."

"No!"

"What d'ya mean, no?"

"Are you stupid?"

"Huh?"

He face-palmed three or four times. "Wah, you idiot, you idiot Wario! Now we can't prank Luigi anymore, because they'll know it's us! Waaahhhhh!"

Wario's face fell as he realised his error. "So I wasn't supposed to tell them?"

"No!"

"Eh, nothing we can do now. Now gimme the money!"

"Wah! You're still being an idiot! You're getting no money! You didn't pull this off so you get nothing!"

"Oh no you don't! You give me that money or else!"

"Or else what?"

Wario's shadow loomed over Waluigi, who cowered in fear. He got up and tried to walk away, but Wario broke into a run. Waluigi, sensing big trouble, ran faster, but Wario, despite his pudgy frame, managed to sprint until he was almost catching up with the guy in purple. Everyone was watching them and laughing, with a few taking videos on their phone to show their friends later. Wario stopped to swing his arm back, propel himself forward and land a punch on his ally, making him fall over. He desperately tried to kick his legs, but Wario's weight kept him pinned to the ground.

"Where's my money? Where's my sixty dollars?"

"Get... off me!"

"Not until you give me what I earned!"

"You earned nothing!"

"Oh yeah?"

He swung his fist back again, but Waluigi stopped him by holding out a few dollar bills.

"Take it, take it!"

The guy in yellow stood up, greed gleaming in his eyes as he took the money. "Good. So, are we still friends? Now that I lost my other ones it's only fair you don't go back on your promise again."

"Fine, fine. Wah... But you're gonna have to do other jobs for me, yeah? Like get my books from my locker an' all that."

"And the money?"

"Yeah yeah, you get paid. Geez, is that all you think about?"

Just then, Mr Bob Omb, who was known for having an explosive temper, was by their side.

"Boys? What are you doing on the floor?"

"I-I'm sorry sir, I just..."

The teacher's voice escalated into a shout. "Get up right now! And detention for both of you this evening! Seriously, what is wrong with you teens?"

"Waaaahhhh..." sighed Waluigi. This day really wasn't going as well as he'd assumed it would... Of course the only luck he got in his life was bad luck.

* * *

Meanwhile, the four boys were quite silent all day. Not really wanting to talk about it, they all went into the library to study or read a book, or at least pretended to.

The day ended with Yoshi, Luigi and Mario heading for their bus, and Toad for his parents' car, again in silence. The former two tried to make conversation, but Mario didn't seem to want to join in. Of course, they were all mad, but they'd be lying if they'd said that Wario and Waluigi weren't going to be best friends eventually. It was only to be expected.

The Mario brothers went into their house, and Luigi contemplated on the incident as he did his homework in the kitchen. He couldn't believe it had been his childhood friend of all people. It was up to his cousin to know that it was wrong, especially considering that he was the most awkward of the five, and grades mattered the most to him too.

When he finished his homework, he left the kitchen and went to their room, where Mario was sitting. He was a picture of misery, with his elbows resting on the table, his head in his hands and his unfinished work in front of him.

It was then that Luigi realised that Mario was more hurt than he was.

Mario and Wario had been best friends since young. Although he was friendly to Luigi, he'd always felt like he was tagging along, even to this day. It was Mario whom Wario chose to play cowboys and sheriffs with. It was Mario with whom he had eating contests with. It was Mario with whom he had the most fun with. Luigi was just his other cousin. Wario had always been nice to him (until now), but there was never a special bond between them.

"Um, hey Mario."

No answer.

"Mario? Everything alright?"

"Not really, to be honest."

Luigi sat on his green swivel chair and pushed it with his feet towards his twin. "I guess this is hard for you, since he was your best friend."

"Yeah... after you, obviously."

The boy in green was secretly pleased at what Mario had said, but didn't show it. Since young, he'd sometimes been jealous when his brother played with Wario instead of him, though that envy hadn't been as prominent in recent years.

"I guess... I guess he just chose the wrong person to hang out with."

"Yeah."

"I mean... Waluigi's such a jerk, what does he see in him?"

"Dunno."

Luigi guessed by his monosyllabic answers that he wanted to be left alone, so he got up and returned to the kitchen to revise a rather difficult chapter in history. But for once, he couldn't concentrate. He felt like crying for his brother, who wasn't taking it very well. True, Luigi had been the most affected, but he'd calmed down after a couple of hours. Still disgusted, still mad, but not riled up or particularly hurt. But Mario... he hadn't. He wondered how Yoshi and Toad felt. Obviously they were angry, but they'd only known Wario since September so it wouldn't matter too much.

Now, what could he do to cheer Mario up? Hmmm... Ah, that was it!

He took a frozen pizza from the freezer. Okay, it wasn't fresh, but he was sure his twin wouldn't care at this moment in time. He put it in the oven and while he waited, he did some more study. When it was time to take it out, Luigi removed it and brought it to their room, ignoring his parents' rule about not eating anywhere apart from the kitchen.

"Here Mario, look, I brought you some pizza," he smiled.

"Ah, great! Is this all for me?" Mario looked a little happier as he eyed one of his favourite foods.

"Yep."

"Thanks! Here, want a slice?"

"I'm fine."

Mario stood up and hugged his brother quickly. "Thanks for doing that for me, bro."

Luigi grinned from ear to ear. It was pretty heartwarming, the way they could hug each other with no feelings of embarrassment, even in public. He'd known a lot of siblings who weren't very close, and he pitied them.

Now that Mario was happy, he started speaking with him.

"When's tonight's football match on?"

"I think it's on at seven, but I'm not sure..."

* * *

 **Hope you liked it! Also, did you hear about the Mario movie that's coming out?**


	17. Food Fight

**So sorry about the delay! So this chapter involves a food fight, and thanks a lot to PilotFlame for the concept and ideas!**

 **OpenLineThursday:** **Yeah, I'm optimistic about the movie but I don't want to be too hopeful, just in case. And about the football game/match: I'm not from America and where I come from we call them matches, so I guess I slipped up there! I'm really trying my best to get the American way of speaking, but I may make a mistake once or twice. Thanks for telling me though, I'll correct that in future mid/high school fics that I'll be writing. And Daisy... yeah, I did focus on her a lot, which may be good for some and bad for others. To be honest, as much as I love Daisy, I too was getting a little tired of writing about her for three chapters in a row. Thanks for reading and reviewing!**

 **Sidesgiving:** **Thanks for reading and reviewing!**

 **MWOFan1991:** **I guess they'd make an interesting ship... but in this particular series, they won't be a couple (sorry if you're disappointed!). Thanks for the review!**

 **PilotFlame:** **Without spoiling it too much, I couldn't put everything in and I may have changed your ideas around (because it's a humanised fanfic, and while, for example, chucking other characters is a hilarious idea, I'm aiming for realism and in real life that'd lead to injuries so I left it out), but I hope you like this chapter! Thanks again for the ideas, the whole concept of the food fight was just what I needed. And I like your use of alliteration! Maybe one day you could write your own middle school fic and use the ideas I couldn't use myself?**

 **JustTheClassicalGirl:** **Umm... I don't know if I'm the right one to ask for tips, but I can tell you how I went about mine. So what I did was, I have all five fics in the series written out so I have a fair idea of what I'm putting up on the site. I think it's good because I can make some plot changes until I'm sure I want the public to see it. It doesn't have to be perfect the first time; I rewrite some chapters completely on ffnet. And as for actual tips... I guess you could look them up online, but personally I don't think it helped me much. I think the best you can do is what I said: write it all roughly first, then make all of the changes. Might not work for everyone but it worked for me (I remember you saying in one of the reviews that yours in an SYOC one, so this may or may not be the best advice). Thanks for reading and reviewing!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything belonging to Nintendo.**

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All was calm in the school canteen at lunchtime. Those who had forgotten their lunch forced themselves to eat the nutritious but disgusting meals provided by the school cook, while the others happily ate what they'd brought from home. As everyone chatted to each other, it was hard to believe all of the drama that had taken place throughout the year that was now so close to an end.

Mario's table was no different. Although the scenario with Wario still bugged him a little, he joked with Luigi, Yoshi and Toad as if nothing had happened. He was optimistic by nature, and he wasn't going to let something like that get to him too much.

"You're getting to be quite the ladies' man Luigi!" he smirked. "Daisy _and_ Peach? Wow, most of us are lucky to get one girl in the space of a few years, and here's you with two at the same time!"

"Shut up," he replied with flaming cheeks. He was quite sick of his brother's teasing at this stage, the gossip regarding his feelings for Peach, and even the rumours that went around about him and Daisy being a couple, despite the fact that they were nothing more than close friends.

"Well you have to say Luigi, you do hang out with them a lot," Toad remarked.

"So? What's wrong with having girl friends?"

"See? Even you're calling them your girlfriends!"

"I meant girl-space-friends, Yoshi."

"Sure," drawled Mario.

Luigi had had enough. He had enough of being embarrassed and letting his buddies think he was a ladies' man, as his twin liked to put it. It was mildly funny at the start, but the joke had grown stale and annoying for him over the months. It was time to speak up for himself.

"They're not my girlfriends, neither of them."

"But I thought you liked Peach!"

"Doesn't mean I want to go out with her. I'm happy with kind of being her friend at the moment. And so what if we were more than that? At least I'd have more of a love life than you, you, and you could ever hope for," he said, pointing at each one of the guys.

"Ooh, burn!" laughed Yoshi, not in the least hurt.

"You know," said Mario, still smirking, "I don't think we should let you get away with this."

"... W-what do you mean?"

Mario didn't reply as he grabbed his strawberry yogurt pot and flung its contents at his brother's head. The others roared with laughter as Luigi ran his fingers through the front of his hair, leaving his hands sticky.

"I know Peach loves pink, Luigi, but do you think she's into pink hair too?"

"Ha ha. Very funny. Let's see how funny you think this is!"

He threw his sandwich, but instead of landing on Mario's face as he'd planned, his clumsiness prevented that from happening. Instead, it bounced off the top of his head, flew in the air, and hit Pauline's glossy hair, who was sitting right behind Mario with her new best friends.

Since the bullying incident with Daisy, Toadette had been kicked out of their group. There was no way Pauline could put up with Mimi on her own, so she finally found the courage to stand up to her and get some new friends, older eighth graders who didn't know about her bad reputation, ones she could have fun with and not be controlled by.

When she felt a hit, she glanced behind her to see who it was. Slices of buttered bread and ham lay on the floor. Ugh, now her hair would have crumbs in it all day. Who could it have been? She raised her eyes, an her gaze instantly settled on the red-faced Luigi, who hurriedly tried to act cool. Yes, it was him without a doubt.

The first emotion she felt was anger, but then it clicked. Pauline had bullied Daisy and lied about it, Luigi and Daisy were besties, Luigi wanted revenge. It made sense now. She couldn't really blame him, could she? He was only sticking up for a victim of on-going taunts. She decided to forget it and sort herself out after she finished eating, but Liz next to her, who'd seen everything, started to speak.

"I wouldn't take that!"

"No... leave it. It's fine, it's just a few crumbs, I can get them out in a sec."

"Wait. So you're okay with a guy randomly throwing food at you?"

"Liz, just drop it."

"But why?"

"Geez, just drop it okay?"

Liz obeyed her, but when she wasn't looking she threw a couple of orange slices and turned around quickly before seeing if they'd landed on Luigi... which they hadn't. Somehow they'd went much higher than she'd intended, and two ninth graders were left feeling very annoyed at food being thrown without reason and unexpectedly at them. Even though they weren't middle schoolers, they all ate in the same canteen and hung out at the same places at recesses, though the corridors and classrooms for the older "half" were located in a different part of the building.

They both looked at each other, nodded, and threw their sandwiches in the air, which disintegrated and hit a good many more people.

"What the heck?" shouted Toad as a slice of cheese fell on his forehead.

Mario sniggered. "Luigi... looks like you started a food fight."

"Aww, crap..."

Toad was seething in anger.

"Just throw something back," suggested Yoshi. "Then again I'm not really into food fights, so... maybe not. It's a waste of food that could be in my stomach!"

"You're so greedy," said Toad. "Besides, I don't even know who threw it!"

"It came from over there, I think. Just throw your sandwich and hope it hits the right person."

"But won't that start an even bigger food fight?"

"So what?" said Mario.

Toad thought about it, then grinned.

"You know what? You're right. School's out next week. Let's have some fun."

His friends cheered. Toad stood up on his chair, flung most of his lunch in different directions and, in his raspy voice, he yelled, at the top of his lungs:

"Food fight!"

Everyone looked at Toad, then at their food, picked up everything in front of them that was edible, and flung whatever was in their hands in a number of directions. A wide variety of snacks and lunches zoomed past all of the students' heads, and hit a good many people, causing them to retaliate.

Within minutes, the canteen was an area of chaos.

A slice of tomato landed on Shy Guy's face, an eccentric tenth grader so nicknamed because he wore a mask to hide his face, despite the teachers' numerous attempts to make him take it off. What he looked like underneath was a mystery to everyone. As the tomato slid off his white mask, he was glad he hadn't listened and kept it on.

In the middle of the canteen stood the normally well-behaved Peach, who was flinging more food than her rather mischievous best friend! And for once, she wasn't worried about her clothes getting dirty.

At that stage, Paratroopa, a twelfth grader, had turned up the music really high on his phone... which shook things up more than they already were. It was a popular rap song, and himself and his friends even had sunglasses on, for added effect.

Meanwhile, at the loner's table, Wario had gotten rid of all his own food, so he grabbed the remainder of Waluigi's lunch, who sourly refused to take part.

"Wah! I was gonna eat that!"

"Too bad!"

"Waaahhh! You're gonna pay for this, Wario!"

"No!"

"Whad'ya mean, no?"

"You still owe me three dollars for getting all of your stuff out of your locker the last time!"

"I gave that to you already!"

"No you didn't!"

"But, but... Waaaaahhhhhh!"

Not far off was Bowser, who'd since left that table. He was trying but failing to keep up his annoyed demeanour as his allies were having the time of their lives. This whole food fight sure seemed like fun, but he didn't want to be buddy-buddy with all the losers in that school...

Aww, what the heck. It wouldn't hurt to sacrifice some of his food and be happy for once. He smirked a little as he aimed an apple at Mario's head, which landed with a thump, causing him to groan in pain and rub his forehead. Bowser chuckled quietly, knowing that his rival would have a bruise the next day. Revenge sure felt sweet.

Food throwing escalated into table flipping from a number of the students. Plates smashed as they hit the ground, and some of the nicer people pitied the cleaners who'd have to tidy this place. The event was in full swing, when all of a sudden, it gradually became quieter and quieter, and the music was turned off. Everyone looked at each other in confusion: why were they stopping? Was the bell about to ring? No, there were still fifteen minutes left. Then why...

Why? Because at the top of the canteen stood none other than the principal himself, scarlet with fury.

A few more edibles being chucked into the air by unsuspecting teens...

Baffled mutters and whispers...

Realisation...

Dead silence.

" _What_ is the meaning of this?" shouted Toadsworth, startling them.

More silence.

"I repeat, what is the meaning of this?"

"P-please sir," said Toad in a trembly voice, "it was just a food fight..."

"Just a food fight? _Just_ a food fight? This is going to take hours to clean up, and you dare to tell me it's just a food fight?"

A moment of suspense ensued. What was he going to say next? How was he going to punish them?

"So, now that I've clarified that it's not _just_ a food fight, I'm sure you'll all agree when I tell you that the whole school will be staying back this evening for detention."

After a moments hesitation, an eight grader started a protest.

"Boooooooooooooo!" he said bravely, followed by his buddies, his girlfriend, and gradually, the entire place.

"You can't give all of us a detention sir!" shouted Daisy amidst all the noise, before Peach could stop her.

Poor Mr Toadsworth was overwhelmed by his students. It had been years since the last food fight, and the pupils at that time had been meek and accepting of their punishment. But this was a different batch of people, however. Never in all his years at the school had he had to deal with so many problems, usually caused by the same troublemakers each time.

But as he glanced at the same troublemakers who had broken his heart over the year (or years), he couldn't help noticing how happy they looked. There was a twinkle in his eye as he revealed his final decision.

"Very well. I'll cancel the detention... if you manage to get this place cleaned up before the day's out."

"So we get to miss classes sir?"

"Yes, yes. If that's what you want?"

Everyone shouted out their approval. Of course that was what they wanted. Anything was better than sitting in a stuffy classroom on a sunny day! At least here they could speak to each other, and could go home at the usual time.

"Besides... I used to love a good old food fight myself as a boy," he said with a little smile, leaving it at that and going away to fetch cleaning material.

"Woohoo!" everyone cheered. Nobody had ever liked the principal more than at that moment, whom they'd all claimed to detest.

Meanwhile, they'd have to get this place spotless... but who cared? It had been the highlight of that year for all, and that was all that mattered.

* * *

 **Maybe Mr Toadsworth was too light on the students but I wanted this to be lighthearted, as there's only one chapter left to go. Also, you may think that Luigi was overreacting, but a joke that's been going on for way too long can get stale, especially regarding crushes. I don't know what worse, buddies thinkingyou like a guy when you don't, or when you do! And poor Luigi's in both situations. Anyway, let me know what you thought of this! I've never experienced a food fight so I hope I did a good job.**


	18. Last Day

**Last chapter! Woohoo!**

 **Mario Yoshi ZW: Glad you like it!**

 **aiai3668: The next fic in this series should be almost the same length as this one. Actually... I think the fifth one is the shortest of the lot, all the others are of similar length. Thanks for reviewing!**

 **Deez Nutz: I'm so happy you liked it!**

 **Disclaimer: Nintendo owns all characters.**

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It was the time everyone had been waiting for.

Last class, ten minutes to the bell. The bell that would dismiss all students, giving them the freedom to do whatever they wanted for three months.

Finally.

Of course, some students had science last thing, which didn't please some of the seventh graders who were in that class. After all, listening to Professor E. Gadd talking about fun but useless facts about ghosts wasn't really interesting to anyone, not even Luigi, his favourite student.

But still, it was the last class for three months...

Mario could hardly contain his excitement. After all his failed attempts to get good grades, he could now close the books for a long time. Rather than listening to E. Gadd, he began to contemplate on his year. For him, it had been both good and bad. The pros were making a new friend (Toad), the parties, and defeating Bowser (even if it had gotten him into trouble the first time). The cons were Miss Kersti, the work, whenever he got a D or less, and losing Wario as a buddy. Oh, and not getting a girlfriend.

Then he thought about his plans for the summer. They were going to Venice in August for a month, their parents' hometown, which he was very excited for. He was also going to spend his time doing sport, playing Nintendo, and hanging out with his brother, Yoshi and Toad. Only thing was, if his summer was going to be that good, it would make his return to school all the more tragic!

But now wasn't the time to be thinking about that.

Either way, he _kind of_ liked Toadstool Middle School. It could have been worse, much worse. He could have been bullied, like Daisy. He could have failed nearly every test, like Donkey Kong. He could have been unpopular, like Mimi and Toadette and even Pauline were at present... though the latter was fairly popular with the eighth graders.

Hopefully, the next year would be as good, or better!

Meanwhile, Peach looked at Daisy on her right. Professor E. Gadd was an easygoing teacher who let his students sit wherever they wanted, so obviously they'd chosen seats next to each other.

Daisy seemed extra excited all day, and Peach couldn't shake the feeling that she was holding back something from her. Judging from her happy expression it was something good, so the blonde decided to ask her about it. Though... it could be just that it was the last day. But still...

"Daisy," she whispered, glancing at the science teacher in case he was looking. "What's up with you today? You're so... jumpy!"

"Duh! It's the last day of school Peach, of course I'm gonna be jumpy!"

"Yeah, but... there's something else, isn't there?"

"Whad'ya mean?"

"There's something you're hiding from me, am I right?"

She smiled mysteriously. "Maybe..."

"Come on, tell me!" she said impatiently, drawing a stern look from E. Gadd. She lowered her voice. "Tell me!"

"Hmmm... I mean... it wouldn't really be a big deal to you..."

"Daisy, _please_ tell me, please!"

"Oh okay. Well... guess."

"Guess? Umm... come on, just tell me!"

The redhead waited a moment for dramatic effect. Then, her face broke into a huge grin as she whispered into her friend's ear. "I think I've lost weight!"

"Daisy, that's great!"

"Yeah! I put on a pair of jeans this morning and they're kinda loose around the waist now. See?" She pulled her t-shirt up slightly. "I had to use a belt!"

"Wow, that's great!"

"Yeah. Oh, and Peach?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for telling me to do sport after school, and eat better. You were right. It's not even that I'm losing weight, I actually feel so much better now."

"Tee hee! You're welcome!" giggled the blonde. And it was true. Daisy was so confident and happy these days, and Peach was delighted that her suffering at school had finally ended. "Oh yeah, and we should buy you new clothes over the summer, and style your hair, I know this really good hairdresser's, and..."

"Whoa whoa whoa, let me get thin first!"

The two girls laughed quietly. Daisy couldn't wait for the summer, when she could do sport everyday and spend time with her little sister Azalea and Peach.

She glanced at Toadette two seats away from her, who looked pretty miserable and ironically had no friends in comparison to Pauline, and Mimi who, despite her new friends being jerks like herself, they were buddies nonetheless.

In one way she wanted to thank those three bullies. Now, she was a better version of who she used to be. Not completely different, just better.

All students kept their eyes on the clock in front of them, watching as the seconds ticked by. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one...

Chaos, students running like wild animals out of the building, and the holidays had finally begun!

* * *

 **Hopefully that was a good ending. Like some of the chapters in this fic, it was a lot better than the original. Okay, so I have a question for all of you - I'm introducing a new student in eighth grade. (IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS STOP READING NOW... but I'd prefer if you read it.)**

 **I'm telling you that it's Birdo, so... how would you feel if I made her a boy, who identifies as a girl? In the narrative, I'll refer to her as a girl. She hasn't and won't be changing her body in any way with hormones or surgery, since I feel it would complicate the story and I don't think I could manage it. Basically she'll have a male body but she'll be female in every other way.**

 **If you think it'll be too controversial or offensive, I'd appreciate a review telling me so and I'll just make Birdo a girl altogether. If you like the idea, tell me that too! Birdo only really affects one person in the fic (directly, anyway), so it's something I can change without too much hassle. So please let me know your opinions - your voice counts for how the next sequel is going to turn out! And look out for _Mario and Friends - Christmas Term Chaos!_ (I know it's "semester" in America, but Christmas Semester Chaos didn't sound as good).**


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